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INCLUDING 

A BRIEF BUT GENERAL VIEW 

OF THE 

ftlSTOUX 0¥ THE WOTLliTJ, 

CIVIL, MILITARY, AND RELIGIOUS, 

FRO^I THB 
EARLIEST TIMES TO THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1820. 



BFJOHJ^TB. COLVIJ^, Eso. 

SECOND EDITIOSr. 

Histoiy is Pliilosophy, teaching by Example..,. „«^o/. 



GEORGETOWN, D. C. 

PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH MILLIGAN. 



JACOB GIDEON, JUN, PRINTER, WASHINGTON OITY. 
1821. 

I ^ 



■^7 

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?/ 







DISTRICT OF VIRGIJ^U, to wit : 

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the sixteenth day of 
November, in the thirty-seventh year of the Independence of the 
United States of America, Samukl Pleasants hath deposited 
in this Office the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as 
proprietor, in the Mords following, to wit : 

HISTORICAL LETTERS, 

including a brief but general vietv of the History oftlie World, 
Civil, JVIilitary , and Religious, from the earliest times to the year 
of our Lord, 1811. — " History is PInlosophy, teacMng by exam- 
ple.''''— ^^o\. ^In conformity to the act of the Congress of the 

United States, entitled " An act for the encouragement of learn- 
ing, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the 
authoi's and proprietors of such copifes during the times therein 
mentioned," and also to an act, entitled " An act supplementary 
to an act, entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by 
securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and 
proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, 
and - extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, en- 
graving, and etching, historical and other prints." 

WILLIAM MARSHALL, 

Clerk of the ZHstrict of Virgima. 



ro THE READER. 

The • tters of this small volume were originally 
publish*., in a newspaper at Richmond, in Virginia, 
From the columns of which, in the same type, and on 
ordinary paper, they were reprinted in the form of 
a Book. A second edition having been required, 
it is now offered to the public, in an improved ty- 
pographical dress. 

When this work was first published, the author 
of it, conceiving that a volume of history could not, 
like a novel, be properly committed to the taste and 
judgment of the public without the sanction of com- 
petent living authorities as to the accuracy of the 
facts it contained and the manner of its execution, 
took the liberty of submittinji it to sv-me of the first 
characters in the United States. The question was, 
. in particular, asked with respect to its value as a 
i school book. These ge'stlemen were so kind as to 
express their opinions in the following letters; and 
to them the publisher begs leave to refer with regard 
to the real merits of the publication. 

Charleston, April 19th, 1813. 
SIR, 

I have received your *' Historical Letters," 
and read them with great pleasure. For this valua- 
ble present I beg you to accept my thanks. I have 
read many compends of general history, but none of 
them, in my opinion, so much deserves the compli- 
ment of multum in parvo as yours. With respect 
to dates and facts, you are correct. It is s'i'arcely 
, possible to give more historical knowledge in an 



IV 



equal number of words and pages. I am particular- 
1/ pleased with your sacred history. Every man 
who reads his Bible, will be able to read it with 
much more understanding after having perused your 
letters. The dress of the work is far inferior to its 
merit. Every man should wish to know what has 
been doing in our world before he was born. By 
reading your book, which he may do in a few days, 
he may acquire such general knowledge of the great 
events which have heretofore taken place in it, as 
will make him feel comparatively at home. With- 
out such knowledge, he must be like a stranger in 
an unexplored country, with respect to past events, 
even in the land of his nativity. I wish you great 
success in the sale, and am with great respect, your 
most obedient servant, 

DAVID RAMSAY. 
J. B, Colvin, esquire, 

Washington City, 



Richmond, May 7th, 1813. 
SIR, 

I received sometime past a copy of your 
" Historical Letters," accompanied with a request 
that I would give my opinion of them. I have read 
them with attention, and have mentioned in Mr, 
Pleasants' office my wish to be classed with subscri- 
bers. I pray you, sir, to receive my thanks for this 
mark of politeness and consideration. 

In a work comprising the history of the known 
world, in a small duodecimo, not much more is to 
be looked for than an accurate chronological index 
of the great events which have been transmitted to 
us in detail, presented in such a form as to give a 



general idea of the nations which have at different 
times made a conspicuous figure on our earth, and 
of the order in which they have succeeded each 
other. By compressing these events- into a narrow 
compass, the mind may embrace, at one view, all 
past time ; and it is probable the youthful reader, 
thus aided in the commencement of his course, ma}^ 
perceive more distinctly, and with less embarrass- 
ment, the connexion between the histories of differ- 
ent nations. 

Of the value of the plan I cannot speak confi- 
dently, although I rather incline to suppose it may 
be useful ; but to whatever may be its value, yoiir 
book is, I think, entitled. The events selected ap- 
pear well calculated to give a correct idea of the 
general history of each nation, and the narrative is, 
I believe, faithful. I am sir, respectfully, your obe- 
dient servant, 

J. MxVRSriALL. 
J. B, Colvin, escfiir£, 

Washin»'ton, Columbia* 



MoNTicELLO, April 8th, 181S. 
SIR, 

f thank you for the historical work you liave 
been so kind as to send me ; but to give the precise 
opinion on it which you ask, is not \ery easy. His- 
tory is on^ of those branches of science which dif- 
ferent persons will pursue to greater or less extent, 
in proportion to their views and opportunities. 
Those of higher aims will resort to the original au- 
thors, that nothing known to others may be un- 
known t(» them. Students to whom i\\i<< branch will 
be a necessary, yet secimdary, object, v»ill call fo? 



vx 

the larg;er compilers ; while those whose other oc- 
cupations aftord little time or means to indulge their 
historical appetite, must be contented with t)-e 
most succinct abridgments. Among these different 
classes of readers, the scale of the " Historical Let- 
ters" will find its place, and will become valuable 
and instructive in the degree which ^^uits them. It 
will also be a convenient Manual even to proficients, 
who often wish to consult shorter works for a re- 
freshment of memory when occasion occurs for 
taking mere general views. For these purposes, 
doubtless, the work you sent me will be useful, and 
its cheapness, as well as brevity, will probably bring 
it into considerable demand. In wishing it success, 
I contemplate not only your gratification but the en- 
largement it may produce in the field of information 
among our fellow citizens. I tender you the assu- 
rance of my esteem and respect. 

TH : JEFFERSON. 
Mr, J. B. Colvin, 

Washington^ 



Jamaica, L. I. August 20th, 1814. 
SIR, 

I have read with satisfaction the small ▼o- 
lume of " Historical Letters" you have been good 
enou8;h to send me. The execution of the work ap- 
pears to me to be creditable to its author ; and I 
think the " Historical Letters" entitled to hold a 
respectable station among the abridgments of gen- 
eral history. With much respect, I am, sir, your 
obedient servant, 

RUFUS KING. 
Mr* J> B. Colvin, 

Departimnt of State* 



Vll 



R. RUv^H presents his compliments to Mr. Col- 
vin, and is much indebted to him for his little work 
upon history. As yet R. R. has onlj been able to 
look into it in a general way, but he has seen enoug;h 
of its plan to discover its utility. Such compends 
of historical knowledge, where men of parts and in- 
dustry will undertake them, are not only most ac* 
ceptable presents to young minds, but highly con- 
venient remembrancers to the more advanced reader. 
R. R regards this of Mr. Colvin's as a valuable lit- 
tle volume added to his library, and thanks him for 
his kindness in sending it. 

Washington, March 22rf, 1813. 



Salem, Mass. April 11, 181S. 
SIR, 

I beg to return you my sincere thanks for 
your acceptable present of the " Historical Letters." 
Owing to severe indisposition in my family I have 
not been able to give it an extensive perusal ; but as 
far as a cursory survey would enable me to judge, 
the work does honor to the diligence, the learning, 
and the accuracy, of the author 1 hope that you 
may receive sufficient encouiagement to make the 
work profitable to yourself as well as to the public. 
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

JOSEPH STORY, 
John B. Coli'in, esquire t 

Washington, District Columbia. 



PREFACE DEDICATORY, 



TO 



MSS. JAMES MADISOTf. 

Madam, 

I DO myself tlie honor of requesting 3^ou to 
accept the dedication of this small volume o^ Histn- 
rical Letters, as a pioot of the estimation in which I 
hold your intellectual endowments. 

It is, of course, a work of compilation, and nofc 
one of invention. History being the narrative of 
what has transpired in the world, the chief merit de- 
rived from writing it consists in a scrupulous adhe- 
rence to the truth of facts. But, at the same time, 
r.lthough there is no scope in such a performance 
for the imagination, there is a great deal to interest 
and occupy the mind ; and to those who hare not al- 
ready made the subjects of it their study, it presents 
all me charms of the most engaging novelty. The 
utmost efforts of human genius can pourtray nothing 
more surprising than the incidents which the annals 
of the world furnish for our instruction and amuse- 
ment. The images of fiction shrink before the more 
substantial forms of real life. 

In the pursuits of philosophy, the true mode of 
proceeding is from particulars to generals ; from the 
known to the unknown. In the matl-ematicvS, too, 
it is essential th^t the inculcation of particular rulej? 



LV . PREFACE DEDICATORY. 

should precede the knowledge of universal principles. 
But it appears to me, that in histori/, where the chief 
point to be regarded is chronology, where the things 
to be recited are equally on record, and where the 
understanding is not to be gradually trained from 
simple to complex and abstract combinations, it is 
best, in the first instance, to acquire a general idea. 
By this means we may comprehend, Avith less diffi- 
culty, the references which are necessarily made in 
the history of one people to the transactions of ano- 
ther ; and having traced on our minds an accurate 
outline of the occurrences of nations, fill up the in- 
tervals with the details of particular histories. If 
the opinion be correct, may I not hope that this lit-'^ 
tie book may become current and usaful in society ? 
As a pocket companion, it may prove a valuable re- 
membrancer to those who have already pored over 
the pages of the writers of antiquity and of modern 
times, or stimulate such as are only superficially in- 
formed to further reading. 

No pains of research have been spared to make 
the work correct : Such topics have been selected 
from the history of each country as are most inter- 
esting; and where there has been nothing in the 
policy or laws of a community to invite attention, 
I have dwelt upon geographical, commercial or reli- 
gious circumstances. Whatever may be the omis- 
sions, it may be relied on that what is stated is as 
authentic as the received authorities can make it. 
Reliections have been sparingly introduced : They 
should be rather excited than expressed. Something 
ought always to be left to exercise the mind of the 
reader. Of those that do occur, a part of them ar» 
©riginal ; others have been drawn from Livy, Sallust, 
and Tacitus ; some from Hume, from Robertson, and 
from Gibbon ; and some from French authors, more 



PREFACE DEDICATORY. V 

especially Le Sage. Advantage has been taken of 
the lights derivable from tlie commentators on the 
Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Asiatics, ancient and 
modern. In relation to America, recourse has been 
had to all the compilers commonly known and re- 
spected in literature ; and by comparing them one 
with another, I have frequently arrived at a degree 
of accuracy which no single one of them would have 
enabled me to attain. Prejudice is the great vice oi 
those who have written history, and wherever it 
could be discerned it has been discarded. 

In a performance of this nature, nothing brilliant 
is to be expected from an author. The histories of 
past times are built one upon another. Different ar- 
rangements of words may rectify or pervert the cha- 
racter of events, but they cannot alter truth. Lan- 
guage is the atmosphere of ideas, and it may be 
clouded by dulness or purified by perspicuity ; yet 
the narrator of facts who builds his fame on a mode 
of e.vpression, and not on his veracitij, will find his 
historical reputation as short lived as the fashion of 
a prevailing style. The object ought to be so to re- 
present things as to make them appear in their genu- 
ine form, easy of perception, and unembarrassed with 
too much description. "Whoever does this best, is 
the best writer. 

These observations have been made to apprize you 
that no credit is claimed for the literary composition 
of these Letters. If they are constructed with judg- 
ment, and are susceptible of a clear comprehension, 
my ambition, in that respect, will be gratified. 

It is not wished, however, to underrate the beau- 
ties of language. It is, nevertheless, in works of 
rhetoric and of poetry, that tliey ought chielly to 
be employed, and are principally to be admired. On 
occasions*^ where feelino; is iiot to be; excited, it i^: 



S HISTORICAL LETTERS? 

Divisions ofdncient Profane History, 

If, adopting the Hebrew text, we reckon forty cen- 
turies from the creation to Jesus Cliristj and as there 
were seventeen centuries from the creation to the 
deluge altogether unknown to Profane History, it re- 
sults that there remain but twenty-three centuries, 
which are commonly divided into three unequal 
parts, to wit: 

1. 2Vie times of uncertaintif, in 
which is placed the origin of the 
most ancient nations, embracing 

2. Fabulous or Heroic Times, or 
the times filled with Mythology, 
embracing 

3. Historical Times, when his- 
tory began to obtain some autheu- 
ticity, wliich contains 



5 Centuries^- 



10 Centuries, 



8 Centuries. 
C. 



LETTER II. 

Of the Egyptians. 

THE Egyptians are allowed to be the most an- 
cient civilized nation upon the earth : their com- 
mencement is unknown to us : in searching into their 
history we find them at an early period familiar with 
the arts and sciences, and with every species of hu- 
man knowledge, which proves a long existing state 
of society. They are themselves as ignorant as we 
are of the antiquity of their origin, which they magni- 
fy into a duration of twenty thousand years. Their 
history is as fabulous as their chronology. They re- 
gresent to us that the gods were their first rulers : 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 9 

after that, the demi-gods ; and subsequently, num- 
berless dynasties and a throng of sovereigns ; in 
which is to be found much of fable, a great deal of 
obscurity, and very few incidents. They boast, 
however, of a Sesostris, whose conquests, or, more 
properly speaking, whose military march (if we 
could give credit to it) embraced the major part of 
Asia, and who penetrated to the verge of Europe. 
Be that as it may, it is at least certain that tliis is 
the only time that this people are mentioned as 
conquerors. Their destiny has uniformly been that 
of subjugation oi- submission. We may reduce to 
three principal points all that is worthy of observa- 
tion of the numerous details which fill the different 
volumes that give an account of the Egyptians; 
that is to say: 1st. The state of their civilization. 
2d. The colonies which they founded. 5d. The 
monuments which they have left behind them. 

Civilization of the Egijptians, 

The Egyptions lived under a regular govern- 
ment; they Were acqainted with the distribution of 
power into civil, military and religious ; they had re- 
spectable magistrates, wise laws, establislied morals, 
and reigning custonjs. In a word, they possessed 
all those branches of order which characterize a state 
of complete civilization. Many of their laws and 
customs merit our attention as well as curiosity. 

The marvellous period of Egyptian history, that . 
which excites our astonishment and awakens our ad- 
miration, either by the wisdom of her laws or the 
immensity of her monuments, is precisely that which 
is least known to us, and it would be altogether una- 
vailing to attempt to penetrate if. We do not pos- 
sess a single literary work of the ancient Egyptians* 



10 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

All that we know anciently of these people is deri* 
ved from the Holy Scriptures, or from ttie Greeks, 
and chiefly from Herodotus, who saw the objects 
which he describes, and received those interpreta- 
tions with respect to their monuments which he has 
transmitted to us. 

About three centuries th.ereafter, Manetho, an 
Egyptian, the high priest and guardian of the sacred 
archives, has given the history of his country, by 
order ot one of the Ptolemies. It is from him that 
we learn the existence of the thirty dynasties which, 
accordi)ig to his calculation, gives to the Egyptian 
monarchy, computing from its origin to the time of 
Alexander the Great, a duration of five thousand 
three hundred years. It is well, however, to observe 
to the reader, in order to regulate his confidence in 
the asseitions of Manetho, that although high priest, 
he v/as not enabled, owing to the many revolutions 
that had occurred in Egypt, to do more tlian afford a 
general interpretation of the hieroglyphics, there re- 
maining at the time he v/rote no faithful tradition of 
the exact sense in which they were originally intend- 
eil. Moreover, this work has been lost, and v/e are 
no otherwise acquainted with it than by those frag- 
ments cited by Josephus, the Jewish historian. 

Much later still than Manetho, and about the 
times or Augustus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and 
Pliny, wrote upon the same subject. The concur- 
rence 01" disac^eement of these different testimonies 
constitute, and will, most probably, continue to con- 
stitute, at all future netiods, the sum of our know- 
ledge relative to tlie primitive Ei^yptians. In vaiii 
the expedition of the French into Egypt, the taien-ta 
and the zeal of those pi\ih>sophers who followed in 
the train of Bona])arte's army, held out the pros- 
pect of new discoveries! The labors of the French 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 11 

institute at Cairo, the travels of ISI. Denon, the writ- 
ings of Gen. Andreossi, and those of several other 
French and Englislimen, have furnished us with 
a perfect topographical description of the coun- 
try, and with accurate and curious details with re- 
spect to the Egyptian monuments : they have pre- 
sented us with interesting dissertations, ingenious 
h^^otheses, and, in a word, tliey have enriched the 
arts and the sciences ; but they have thrown no new 
light upon the early period of the history of Egypt. 

Colonies founded by the Egyptians. 

All the world knows that the Greeks, tliose vene- 
rable models of good taste, of arts, and of science, 
received from the Egyptians the first germs of their 
knowledge; and, if we may be permitted to believe the 
plausible theoiy of M. de Guignes, the Chinese of our 
day were originally a colony from Egypt. M. de 
Gui{2;nes thinks he has discovered that the sovereigns 
of China are precisely the same as those of Thebes in 
the Upper Egypt. He demonstrates a considerable 
resemblance between the Chinese alphabet and the 
Egyptian hieroglyphics. Whether the conjectures of 
this gentleman be true or not, it is certain that he 
has discovered an extraordinary similitude in t)ie 
manners, the genius, the morals, and the characters, 
of these two widely separated nations. 

Monuments left by the Egyptians. 

These are the pyramids, the obelisks, lake Moeris, 
the famous labyrinth, &c. &c. In general, all these 
celebrated works astonish more by tlieir colossal im- 
mensity, and tlie patience possessed by those who 
erected them, than by their taste and their utility. 
Some of them are still to be seen. On the road to 



12 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Cairo three pyramids are in view, which have resist- 
ed the destructive interval of many thousand years. 
It is said that the largest of these is two thousand 
six hundred and forty French feet in circumference, 
and five hundred feet in height, that one hundred 
thousand men were constantly employed, and that 
the labor of erection endured for tliirty years. The 
general opinion is, that they were destined to be re- 
ceptacles for the dead ; but some have imagined that 
their immen.se surface was intended to receive and 
perpetuate, in hieroglyphics, the annals and the 
learning of this astonishing people. Wliat is re- 
markable, in a mathematical point of view, is, that 
the four faces of these pyramids precisely corres- 
pond with the four cardinal points, and that they in 
like manner designate the meridian. 

xVs mucli uncertainty prevails relative to the period 
•at which these pyramids were constructed as upon 
the subject of their utility. Herodotus, who was 
initiated among the priests of Egypt, and to whom 
we are indebted for all the tokens of Egyptian anti- 
quity which we at tliis time possess, fixes their con- 
struction about the time of the Trojan war ; that is, 
about one thousand one hundred and ninety-four 
years before Jesus Christ. 

The obelisks are simple monuments of stone, sup- 
posed to have been erected in a polished age, before 
the invention of alplsabetical writing, by the kings of 
Egypt, principally at Thebes and Heliopolis, Seve- 
ral of them were transported to Rome by tlie empe^ 
rors ; and the largest of tl^e whole, which is to be seen 
in our day, was conveyed thither by the orders of 
Constantius. 

The lake Mceris, calculated for greater utility, was 
formed for the purpose of remedying the too great 
irregularity of the inundations of the Nile. The 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 1^ 

ancients computed that it was two hundred and forty 
miles or eighty leagues in cicuniference; but the mo- 
derns appear to agree in the opinion that it is not 
more than sixty miles or twenty leagues. The an- 
cients must have exaggerated, or the lake must 
have been considerably reduced in its dimensions by 
the revolutions of nature. 

The famous Labyrinth embraced a magnificent con- 
gregation of twelve palaces or three hundred halls, 
which communicated with each other by an almost 
infinite number of windings and intricate ways. C. 



LETTER in. 

Egypt — Concluded. 

THE ancient Egyptian stock is supposed to be 
still extant in the Copts, who, as modern travellers 
tell us, are distinguished by the moral qualities of 
ignorance, drunkenness, cunning, and finesse. The 
first period of their degradation was the conquest of 
Egypt by Cambyses, an event that occurred five hun- 
dred and twenty-five years before Chiist. He 
changed the laws, persecuted the priests, and demo- 
lislied the temples. The second period is supposed 
to have been the persecution of Dioclesian, when 
Christianity had taken deep root in the country. Af- 
ter the death of Cambyses, Egypt continued under 
the Persian yoke, until Alexander the ^reat over- 
turned tliat monarcliy and built Alexandria. To him 
succeeded Ptolemy, the son of Lago, about three hun- 
dred and twenty-four years before Christ ; and this 
B 



14 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Ptolemy was followed by ten kings of that name until 
the time of the accomplished and voluptuous Cleopa- 
tra, the sister of the last Ptolemy, when Egypt be- 
came a Roman province, and so continued until the 
reign of Omar, the second caliph of Mahomet's suc- 
cessors, by whom the Romans were driven out after 
a possession of seven hundred years. When the ca- 
liph power declined, Saladine set up the empire of 
the Mamelouks, who eventually extended their do- 
minion over a great portion of Arabia, Syria, and Af- 
rica. A Turkish emperor, of the name of Selim, then 
conquered Egypt. Ali Bey attempted to wrest it 
from tlie Ottomans ; but he was defeated and killed 
in one thousand seven hundred and seventy three. 
His adherents, after his death, kept it in a very dis- 
tracted state, until a compromise took place in 1789. 
In 1799, it was invaded by the French, who landed 
at Alexandria, proceeded to Rosetta and Cairo, but 
were repulsed and arrested in their career at St. John 
d'Acre, by the intrepidity and skill of Sir Sidney 
Smith, a British naval officer of great merit. 

There can be no doubt but the subjugation and 
colonization of Egypt has been an object upon which 
the French government has for many years fixed its 
most serious attention. Denon informs us that France, 
for a long period of time, has had it for a natural 
object other policy; the motive of which, he alleges, 
is to counterbalance, or to endeavor to destroy, the 
British empire in India. But, in the present condi- 
tion of France, the attainment of such an object must 
be very remote. 

Besides the Copts, Egypt is at present inhabited by 
various races of men, of which the Arabs are the 
most numerous. These latter are divided into three 
descriptions of persons, namely : The Arab Sliep- 
berd, who is lively and of a penetrating phisiognomy: 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 15 

'The Bedouin Arab, who lives in a state of continual 
warfare, and is of a savage and ferocious character: 
And, lastly, the Arab cultivator, the most civilized, 
the most corrupted, and most degraded of the three. 
There is, also, the dull and heavy Turk, the wily 
Greek, the accumulating Jew, whose character is 
every where the same, and the Barabras, from Nubia 
and the frontiers of Abyssinia, of a jetty, shiining 
black. ^ The higher classes of Egyptian women have 
some interesting points of character, but the lower 
orders are by no means fascinating. Despotism and 
frequent subjugation have instilled into the minds of 
the men the most servile principles, and accustomed 
them to the most abandoned vices ; whilst the jealous 
notions of their masters have doomed the females to 
a life of seclusion. As typical of their abject condi- 
tion, the ass, that dull beast in other countries, seems 
to exist in the highest perfection in Egypt, and is, 
comparatively speaking, quite a lively animal. The 
fruitfulness of Egypt is proverbial — and under pro- 
per cultivation it would be a granary for Europe. 

C. 



LETTER IV. 

Of the Phoanicians and Carthagenians, 

PHOENICIA was a sterile country, bordering 
upon th€ eastern extremity of the Mediterranean 
sea. It was there that commerce first took birth. 
It is said the ancient and famous city of Sidon was 
the first to cultivate it. This city, in a moment of 
its greatest splendor, founded the colony of Tyie, 



lO HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

which after a time surpassed the parent state. Tyre; 
erected upon the same continent, and at no great 
distance from Sidon, became the arbiter of commerce 
and the mistress of the sea, when it was besieged by 
the kings of Assyria. One of these was Nebuchad- 
onosor, so famous in holy writ. This prince be- 
sieged, took, and totally destroyed it. The inhabit- 
ants, however, were not extirpated ; but escaping 
from the ruins of their city, erected a new one on a 
little island, at a small distance from their former si- 
tuation. This celebrated city, become a second time . 
the sovereign of the seas and a mart for the riches 
of the world, fell beneath the sword of Alexander 
the Great, who became master of it after a laborious 
seige, and totally destroyed it. 

The celebrated Dido, being compelled to fly from 
Tyre, to escape the avidity of her brotiier, king Pyg- 
malion, who, for the sake of his v/ealth, had basely 
murdered her husband Sichseus, one of the priests 
of Hercules, was followed by several vessels with 
adherents, and established herself on the coast of 
Africa, opposite to Sicily. She there purchased as 
much land as she could encompas with a bull's hide, 
which, cutting into small stripes, environed therewith 
a considerable quantity of ground, on which she built 
Carthage, which, from this female trick, has also been 
called Eyrsa, that is, the Hide, Dido founded Car- 
thage about the seventieth year of Rome. Virgil 
pretends that she killed herself because iEneas for- 
sook her: bi3t this is mere fiction, which may be 
well permitted to a poet. Hiarbas, king of the Ge- 
fulians, would have forced her by arms to marry 
him, but rather than violate her vow to her first hus- 
band sjie put an end to her life. Such is the origin, 
wholly fabulous perhaps, of the celebrated Carthage, 
so distinguished in history by her vast wealth, her 



HISTORICAL LETTERS* 17 

great power, her long struggle for the empire of the 
world ; and, in short, for lier terrible downfall. Car- 
thage existed for about seven hundred years ; but it 
is only the last century of her history which excites 
gi'eat interest, because it embraces the three famous 
Punic wars, and the celebrated expedition of Han- 
nibal. C, 



LETTER V. 
Carthas:e — Concluded, 



o 



THE famous Hannibal, who is considered as 
one of the greatest generals of antiquity, was not 
more than twenty-six years of age wlien he commen- 
ced his celebrated expedition into Italy. He depart- 
ed from Carthage, and, in the sliort space of five 
months and an half, reached the plains of Piedmont, 
after having traversed, in defiance of the obstacles of 
nature and the efforts of man, the Ebro, the Pyren- 
nees, the Rhone, and the Alps. It would not be can- 
did to judge of the labors of this march from the con- 
dition of Spain and Italy in modern times. These 
countries at present have tolerable roads and are in- 
habited by a civilized people ; but at the period that 
Hannibal invaded Italy, the routes were less penetra- 
ble, and the inhabitants, for a great part, were bar- 
barians. His march cost him more than one half 
the number of his soldiers ; for he left Spain at the 
head of sixty thousand men, and when he arrived in 
Italy he could only count twenty-five thousand. 
With this small number of troops he found himself at 
B 2 



18 HISTORICAL LETTERS, 

an immense distance from his country, environed on 
every side by powerful and angry enemies, without 
the possibility of retreat, and without apparent re- 
rtources^ Such was the critical situation of Hanni- 
bal, in which his intrepid soul, fearless of danger, ap- 
peared to glory. Indeed it required a spirit of ro- 
mantic valor, and a firm composure that no accident 
could ruffle, to extricate him from his difficulties. 
liis first exploit was the taking of Turin ; shortly af- 
ler which he defeated on the Tessino, Scipio, one of 
ihe Roman consuls, and on the Trebia he totally over- 
threw his colleague, the presumptuous Sempronius. 
Pursuing his successes with ardor, he traversed the 
Appenines, penetrated into Tuscany through dread- 
ful marshes, and for four da^s proceeded up to his 
middle in water. From these fatigues, and the insa- 
lubrity of putrid exhalations, Hannibal lost an eye. 
At last he overtook the rash Flaminius, on the bor- 
ders of the lake Thrasymine, where he overcame and 
slew him. At this moment Rome had been lost but 
for the prudence of Fabius. Hannibal, unable to 
bring Fabius to action, employed himself and forces 
in the central parts of Italy, subduing and ravaging 
different portions of it, and watching a favorable op- 
portunity for some new blow against his chief enemy. 
This opportunity soon presented itself. The wise 
Fabius, whose dilatory mode of warfare had rendered 
liim unpopular with his fellow citizens, was thrown 
aside, and the imprudent Varro appointed in his stead. 
Varro lost the battle of Cann?e, where, it is said, 
there perished seventy thousand Romans. Hannibal 
sent to the senate of Carthage, as part of the fruits of 
this victory, a bushel of gold rings, taken from the 
Roman nobility (so great was the slaughter !) w"ho 
were left dead on the field of battle. 
Here it has become a reproach to Hannibal that 



HISTORICAL LZTTERS. 19 

he did not march directly to Rome. But was it, in 
fact, an error, or could he, under the circumstances, 
act otherwise than he did? Opinions are divided on 
the subject. Be it as it may, after the victory of Can- 
nae he overran the country in various directions by 
marches and counter-marches, subdued many cities, 
deprived the Romans of their allies, and took up his 
winter-quarters at Capua. The pleasing but perni- 
cious indulgencies which his troops there experienced 
enfeebled their spirit and relaxed their discipline. It 
is certain that from this period the great successes 
and the good fortune of Hannibal ceased. He com- 
menced, indeed, the siege of Rome; but he was com- 
pelled to raise it, finding himself perpetually har- 
rassed by the enem}^ who had retaken Capua and 
Tarentum. Meanwhile, a hostile faction at Car- 
thage deprived him of all succors from thence. His 
brother Asdrubal, in conducting reinforcements to 
him from Spain, across the Alps, was defeated and 
killed. The young Scipio, whose brilliant exploits 
had rendered him a prodigy, having subjugated 
Spain, transported himself and army to the shores of 
Carthage. A multitude of circumstances combined 
to defeat the plans of Hannibal, and to free Rome 
and Italy from his presence. This terrible enemy of 
the Romans was finally constrained to return and 
defend his own country. It is said that he shed tears 
on leaving Italy, where, for sixteen years, in a de- 
lightful countr}^ he had exhibited a victorious career, 
and was accustomed to regard his conquests as his 
patrimony. 

Hannibal and Scipio encountered one another at 
Zama, on the Carthagenian territory ; and these two 
celebrated heroes decided, in a single day, the desti- 
nies of the two most powerful nations in the world. 
Hannibal was vanquished, although, according to the 



20 HiSTonr'AL letters. 

testimony of his antagonist, he surpassed his former 
actions in tliis unfortunate battle. Scipio obtained a 
complete victory ; and from that day Rome knew no 
rival in the universe. Hannibal eventually became a 
solitary wanderer in foreign countries, his name and 
his genius a terror to the Romans, till, wearied with 
misfortunes, he put a period to his existence by a 
dose of poison, which he carried about him, concealed 
in a ring, for the purpose. C. 



LETTER VI. 

•^ssyrianst — Greece, and the chief objects connected 
ivith her History. 

THERE were four great monarchies of antiqui- 
ty ; the Assyrian, the Persian, the Macedonian, and 
the Roman. Of the Assyrian monarchy we know 
but little ; and what we do know is still liable to the 
fluctuation of uncertainty. It is said to have been 
founded in the year 22S3 before Jesus Christ, by 
Jfimrod, who, by some, is said to be the same as Ni- 
nus and Belus, whilst others insist that he is the Sa- 
turn or tlie Bacchus of fable. It endured for four- 
teen hundred years, down to the year before Christ 
770. The principal cities of this kingdom were 
Nineveh, upon the Tigris, and Babylon upon the Eu- 
phrates. Diodorus Siculus says that Nineveh was 
erected by Ninus, who was desirous of rendering it 
the greatest and the most celebrated city of the uni- 
verse; it was twenty-four leagues in circumference, 
was encircled with a wall one hundred feet in height^ 



mSTORICAL LETTERS. 21 

and of such thicKiiess that three chariots could pass 
abreast. The walls were flanked by towers of two 
hundred feet in height. Babjlon, embellished by Se- 
miramis, and those wlio succeeded her, is represented 
as a still more marvellous place than Nineveh. It is 
said that its walls were three hundred feet in height, 
seventy-five feet in thickness, twenty-four leagues in 
circumference, and had one hundred brazen gates. 
The monarchy ended with Sardanapalus, several of 
whose officers, selecting Belesis, the governor of 
Media, for their cliief, revolted from their sovereign, 
and besiged him in his palace, where he was compel- 
led iA) burn himself with all his treasures. From the 
fragments of the Assyrian, were formed three otlier 
monarchies, namely, that of the Medes, of which Ec- 
batana was the capital ; tliat of the Ninevites, and 
that of the Babylonians. The most interesting ob- 
jects of the Assyrian history, according to Diodorus 
Siculus, who copied from Ctesias, were the celebra- 
ted expedition of Ninus against the Bactrians, at the 
head of one million seven hundred thousand infan- 
try and two hundred thousand cavalry; and the 
reign of Semiramis, with whom Ninus became ac- 
quainted at the siege of Baclra, where that wonder- 
ful woman displayed her extraordinary genius. Se- 
miramis, having become a widow, signalized herself 
in the arts of government. She traversed her em- 
pire, embellished and enlarged it. This princess 
conquered sk part of Ethiopia, and from thence made 
an expedition to India, which was famous and unfor- 
tunate. The wonders of Babylon have attracted at- 
tention. Ctesias, the physician, first of the younger 
Cyrus, and afterwards of his brother, has written the 
listory of the Assyrians and of the Persians, in 
twenty-three books. A few remains of this writer 
have reached us. He is the source of all the fables 



3ii HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

which fill tliis period : lie almost invariably contra- 
dicts Herodotus, and frequently deviates from Xeno- 
phon. Aristotle judged him little worthy of credit ; 
but notwithstanding that, Diodorus Siculusand many 
others have given him the preference, and often copy 
him. Among the moderns, RoUin, in his ancient his- 
tor}'-, lias united all that the Greek and Roman histo- 
rians have said upon the subject. 

Next in order would follow an account of the Per- 
sian monarchy; but as the most remarkable events of 
this kingdom, and those which are chiefly worthy our 
notice, grew out of its contests with the Greeks, I 
will first describe the principal republics of that far- 
famed people, who still claim and receive the homage 
of our unfeigned respect. 

Sparta, one of the four famous republics of Greece, 
was founded one thousand live hundred and sixteen 
years before Jesus Christ. Lelex is the first king of 
Lacedemon whose name we know. He was reckon- 
ed the founder, and appears to have been a native of 
Laconia. Castor, Pollux, Helen, and Clytemnestra, 
names celebrated in fable, were descended from him. 
The government of Sparta was an aristocracy : eight 
hundred and eighty-four years before Christ, Lycur- 
gus, of the royal house, became the legislator of his 
country, in which character he caused his fellow ci- 
tizens to adopt the most extraordinary constitution 
that has ever been known. He placed the authority 
of the state in the hands of a senate for life, in which 
the laws were approved or rejected by the peo- 
ple. The magistrates were two hereditary kings, 
and five annual Ephori, or popular magistrates, 
something like the tribunes of the Romans. The period 
of the greatest grandeur for Sparta was after thq 
war of Peloponnesus, when, having humbled Athens 
and seized Thebes, she beheld Syracuse and the 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 23 

Persians suing for her alliance. Her destiny was 
completed about one hundred and eighty-six years 
before Christ, when Sparta was taken by Philopwtnan, 
chief of the Achpen league. The city surrendered 
at discretion, but was treated as a place taken by as- 
sault : the walls were razed and the laws of Lycur- 
gus were abolished. 

In the year before Jesus Christ 1557, Athens was 
founded by Cecrops, who brought a colony out of E- 
gypt and established himself in Attica. He taught 
the natives agriculture and introduced the olive 
among them. It was Cecrops who instituted the 
Areopagus. The government of Athens was demo- 
cratic. In the year 594 before Christ, after the death 
of Codrus, the last king, the city erected itself into 
a republic, the constitution of which was framed by 
-Solon : he placed the sovereignty in the hands of the 
populace, who decided upon the objects which had 
been deliberated upon by a senate of great numbers. 
The magistrates of the Athenian republic were Ar- 
chons, who were at first chosen for life, afterwards 
for ten years, and finally they were increased and 
elected annually. The period of greatest grandeur 
for Athens was about the time of the Persian war, 
when she was seen to accomplish acts of firm cou- 
rage and to exhibit the most astonishing virtues. The 
fate of Athens was decided four hundred and four 
years before Clnist, when the city was taken by 
Xiysander, a Lacedemonian chief, towards the con- 
clusion of the Peloponnesian war: her walls Mere 
thrown down and her government changed. From 
this severe blow she never recovered. 

Thehps was founded in the year 1494 before Christ, 
by Cadmus, who arrived from the neighborhood of 
Tyre with a colony of Phoenicians, and built the city 
of Thebes in Bcetia, the citadel of which took from 



24 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

him its name. He carried along with him the art oi 
writing. The government was variable. The mis- 
fortunes of Laius, of Jocasta, of CEdipus, of Eteocles* 
and of Polynices, are identified with the history of 
the Thebans, and have furnished subjects for the 
theatres. The magistrates were Boeotarchs, who 
were supreme in Thebes, and at the same time the 
head of the Boeotian league. The time of their high- 
est renown was under Pelopidas and Epaminondas, 
who freed their country from the Lacedemonian 
yoke, and gave them a superiority over the rest of 
the Greeks. About three hundred and eighty years 
before Christ the city was taken by Alexander, a- 
gainst whom it had revolted ; it was then demolished 
and burnt, with the exception of the house of Pindar, 
who was accounted the chief of the nine Lyric poets, 
viz: Alcfeus, Alcman, Anacreon, Bacchylides, Iby- 
cus, Sappho, Stersichorus, Simonides, and Pindarus 
or Pindar. He was a man of a sublime and majestic 
genius, and Horace describes his style as being adorn- 
ed with a fluency beautifully irregular. It was for 
his poetical talent that Alexander spared him. All 
the inliabitants of Thebes were sold. 

Corinth was founded in the year 1326 before Je- 
sus Christ. Properly speaking, Sisyphus was the 
first king, the Corinthians having previously submit- 
ted to tiiose of Argos and Mycene. Her com- 
mencement is much more obscure than that of the 
other cities just mentioned. Generally, the govern- 
ment of Corinth was oligarchic. About one liundred 
years after the siege of Troy, the race of Sisyphus 
was driven out, and to it succeeded that of the Bac- 
chides, under whom Corinth assumed a republican 
form of rule, with the authority in the hands of the 
Elders. The magistrates were the Prytanes, of an 
aristocratical cast, elected by the elders, who chose 



HISTORICAL LETTERS*. 



try was so stronq;, that he sometimes descended to 
inferior stations for the public good, as was the case 
when he yielded the command of the fleet at the bat- 
tle of Salamis to Ids rival Eurybiades. He fortified 
Athens and the Piraeus, and added to her navy. His 
countrymen, nevertheless, with their characteristic 
caprice, banished him. He took refuge with Artax- 
erxes, the son of the same Xerxes whom he had not a 
great while before driven out of Greece. He was 
received with great friendship and high honors by th© 
sovereign of Persia, who assigned to him the revenue 
of three rich cities to find him in bread, meat, and 
wine. But Themistocles was still a Greek at heart, 
and pined for the mountains and vallies of Attica, 
He could not, in sucli a temper of mind, carry on wsn' 
against Athens, antl either poisoned liimself or died 
broken-heailed. His bones were conveyed home by 
the Athenians, who erected a splendid monument to 
his memory. 

Aristides who has been called the just, was chiefly 
distinguished for his rin;id probity and temperance. He 
shrunk before the masterly genius of Themistocles, 
who occasioned his banishment. He was, however, 
recalled, took part in the Persian war, and distin- 
guished himself at the battle of Platca, where he held 
command in conjunction with Pausanias. He died 
poor, was buried at the public expense, and in consi- 
deration of the father's virtue and their indigence 
his daughters, when marriageable, received a dowry 
from the purse of the republic. 

Nicias was a general of much courage and expe- 
rience, but of a fearful understanding, slow, and in- 
decisive. It was he, who contrary to his own advice 
and will,had the direction of the expedition against Si- 
cily, in concert with Demosthenes, another general, 
who, we are to observe, was not the great orator ot 
D 



38 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

that name. They both perished by the hantls of the 
hangman, contrary to the law of nations and the faith 
of treaties. 

Conon was an Athenian naval commander, who 
obtained celebrity by his successes and his misfor- 
tunes. 

Brasidas, Gylippus, and Callicratidas, exhibited 
considerable talents and eftected great things on the 
part of the Lacedemonians : but Lysaiider eclipsed 
them all : He covered his country with glory by his 
successes. He was arrogant and fond of praise — 
but valiant in battle and subtle in council. He aim- 
ed at absolute power, but never could completely at- 
tain it, and finally fell in a combat with the Haliar- 
tans, who attacked him by surprise. The spoils of 
Athens eventually avenged her misfortunes upon her 
victorious rival. They were for Sparta the empoison- 
ed tunic of Nessus ; for the riches which I^ysander 
introduced into the bosom of his country paved the 
way for the destruction of the Lacedemonians. 

The reader wlio is curious to go more at large into 
the history of the illustrious men who were particu- 
larly distinguished among the Greeks, may resort to 
tiie entertaining biography of Plutarch : But I must 
not altogether omit the story of Xenophon and the 
wonderful retreat of the ten thousand. This is an 
action, the most celebrated of its kind that history 
has transmitted to us. Tlie young Cyrus, brotlier of 
Artaxerxes Mnemon, king of Persia, commanded in 
the Western provinces of that empire in Asia Minor. 
Impelled by a blind and culpable ambition, he revolt- 
ed against his sovereign and marched upon Babylon 
at the head of 100,000 barbarians and of 13,000 
Greeks, with the intention of dethroning his brother ! 
The latter met him at the head of more than 900,000 
men. The ttvo armies fought on the plains of Cu- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 39 

Tiaxa, vviiiiin sixty miles of the capital of the empire. 
Trie young Cyrus, in the midst of victory, seized with 
fuiy at the siglit of liis brother, rushed impetuously 
upon him, but was thrown from his horse and slain. 
Ilie Greeks, w ho, in the wing where they were station- 
ed, had achieved an entire victory, found themselves 
placed by the death of Cyrus in a very singular pre?- 
dicament. Deprived of their prince, environed by 
enemies, more than 1800 miles from home, vvithout 
provisions and without allies, they were summoned 
•to surrender : But they proudly refused, and demand- 
ed a free and peaceable passage to their country: 
this was granted to them ; for the Persians were afraid 
to attack them, and believed it easier to destroy them 
by treachery than subdue them by force. In truth, 
Clearchus, with many other of their officers, were 
soon afterwards put to death. Xenophon, a young 
Athenian, lull of wisdom, revived the drooping spirits 
of his companions on this trying occasion, and they 
placed him at their head. It was he who had the glo- 
ry of effecting this memorable retreat, so often refer- 
red to by men of science as one of the most admira- 
ble expeditions recorded in the annals of nations. 
Constantly pursued by a multitude of enemies, the 
Greeks had to pass rivers, to cross mountains, and to 
traverse deserts innumerable. In a word they were 
perpetually compelled to tight, to vanquish, to march, 
to find th<»mselves in provisions; and yet it was not 
above fifteen months, after having overcome every 
natural obstacle as well as the attacks of their foes, 
that the ten thousand Greeks, reduced to eight thou- 
sand six hundred, reached their native borders. They 
had marched upwards of 1,300 leagues. The sage 
Xenophon, who was their guide and became their his- 
torian, has immortalized himself under both these 
titled. lie was a disciple of Socrates, and devotetl 



40 ' KISTOaiCAL LETTEKS. 

himself (111 ring tlie latter part of liis life to philoso^- 
phv and literature. liis style of writing was so dis- 
tiiiguihhed for simplicity and sweetness that he ob^- 
tained the surnauie oP the Bee of Greece^ and Quin- 
lilian has paid hini a Itigh compliment on the beauty 
of his diction. All he wrote was calculated to in- 
spire his readers with a love of virtue, to v. hose dic- 
tates he likewise conformed in his personal deportr 
rtrpnt'.- C; 



LETTER 1%. 

AS a pei-son embarking on his travels into distant 
countries, casts, from on shipboard, a lingering, fare- 
well look, towards the receding shore, and recalls to 
his mind a thousand pleasing incidents ; so I, in 
passing from my biief historical view of ancient 
Greece, cannot resist tlie temptation of recurring to 
the fabulous part of her annals. Her history is that 
of gods, of heroes, and of great men. It is through 
her tliat we have come to the knowledge of nations 
w hich preceded her, and of those \\ liich were cotem- 
poraneous with her : And it is impossible to contem- 
plate subjects connected with tlie arts and sciences 
without thinking of a country where they chielly ori- 
ginated and were brought to the greatest perfection. 
Considerations like these incline us to view with re- 
verence, and regard as import^int, every invention 
and every institution of the Grecian commonwealths. 
This letter, therefore, will be devoted to a sketch of 
the Divinities, of the JMuses, of the Demigods, of the 
Twelve Labors of Hercules, the seven wonders of 



HISTORICAL LETTERS* 41 

the World, and of the diiferent sects of Philosophers 
of Antiquity, all of whicli are, more or less, interwo- 
ven with the establishments of the Greeks. 

Principal Divinities of the Pagan World, 

Jupiter, the master of the o:ods, was the son of Sa- 
turn, and had Juno for his wife. 

Neptune, brother of Jupiter and god of the Ocean, 
had Amphi trite for wife. 

Pluto, brother of Jupiter and god of hell, was mar- 
ried to Proserpine, the daughter of Ceres. 

Mars, the god of war, had Bellona for his sister 
and Terror and Fear for cliildren. 

Minerva, or Pallas, (sprung from the brain of Jupi- 
ter,) goddess of wisdom, of the arts, and of war. 

Venus, 2:oddess of love and beauty; the Smiles and 
Graces compose her train. 

Cupid, the son of Venus and of Vulcan, who presid- 
ed over fire, and was the patron of all artists who 
^^■orked in iron and metal. 

Apollo, or Phoebus, son of Jupiter and Latona,god 
of Music and Poetry. He conducted the chariot of 
\!{\Q. Sun and presided at the concerts of tlie Muses. 

Diana, sister of Apollo, goddess of t'le chase ; In 
liell she is called Hecate. 

Ceres, presided over agriculture. The god Tcr~ 
n»inus presided over the bounds and limits of land. 

Hebe, goddess of youth ; and Ganymede, eui- 
played by Jupiter to pour out nectar for the gods. 

Bacchus, god of wine ; Old Silenus vvas his foster- 
father. 

Mercury, messenger of the gods and. god of craft, 
and eloquence. He had a variety of occupations as- 
signed him. rhen)i8, was the goddess of J uslice. 
D 5 



4S HISTORICAL LETTERS* 

Iris, with vain-bow wings, of a thousand colorSj 
was the messenger of Juno. 

Aurora, with rosy fingers, goddess of the morning. 
Morpheus, god of sleep and dreams. 

iEolus, god of winds and tempests. Nemesis god- 
dess of vengeance. 

Flora and Pomona, goddesses of flowers and of 
fruits. Pan and Sjlvanus, gods of shepherds and of 
groves. 

Dryads, Hamadryads, and Lymnades, nymphs of 
w oods, trees, and lakes. 

Naiades, nymphs of woods and mountains : Ne- 
reides, nymphs of the sea. 

Syrens, sea-nymphs, who enchanted passengers by 
the melody of their voices. 

Fawns and Satyrs, country divinities, followers of 
Bacchus. 

The three Graces, Aglaia, Euphrosina, and TKalia, 
followers of Venus. 

The three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, 
who presided over human life. 

The three Furies, Alecto, Megera, and Tisiphone, 
armed with torches and with serpents. 

The tln^ee Judges of Hell, Minos, JEacus, and 
Rhadamanthus. 

The three Harpies, with antiquated visages, the 
bodies of vultures, and claws of iron. 

The three Uesperides, Eglea, Arethusa, and Hy- 
perethusa, who guarded the golden apples. 

The three Gorgons, (who had between them only 
one eye and one tooth,) Euryale, Medusa, and Stheno; 
they changed into stone all who looked upon them. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 43 

The J\*ine Muses, ivho presided over the Liberal 
drts; ivith their Attributes, 

Clio, presides over History ; crowned with laurel, 
having a trumjDet and a book. 

Euterpe, presides over Music ; crov/ned with flow- 
ers and playing the flute. 

Thalia, presides over Comedy; ^having on socks 
or sandais, and holding a mask in her hand. 

Melpomene, presides over Tragedy ; having on 
buskins, and armed with a poignard. 

Terpsichore, presides over IJancing ; crowned with 
garlands, and holding a harp. 

Erato, presides over lyric poetry ; crowned with 
myrtle and roses, holding a lyre. 

Polyhymnia, presides over rhetoric ; crowned with 
jev/els and armed with a sceptre. 

Calliope, presides over eloquence and heroic poe- 
try; crowned with laurel. 

Urania, presides over astronomy ; crowned with 
stars and holding a celestial globe. 

The HeroeS) or Demigods; and their principal ac- 
tions, 

Perseus, the son of Jupiter and Dan?e, husband of 
Andromeda, whom he delivered from a sea monster ; 
His principal action was his victory over the Gor- 
gons ; one of whom, Medusa, he slew. 

Hercules, the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, hus- 
band 01 Dejanira, is the most celebrated of all the 
Heroes or Demigods : He is particularly famous for 
his twelve labors. 

Orpheus : The most rapid rivers restrained their 
currents; the most savage beasts hastened from the 
forests ; the mountains descended from their sum- 



44 HISTORICAL letters; 

mits to their bases, at tlie sound of his harmoiiioub 
voice. He charmed all hell with his lyre^ and ob- 
tained from Pluto permission for his wife Eurydice 
to return to the earth on conditions which his impa- 
tience did not permit him to fulfil. 

Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Jupiter and Leda, 
and brothers of the beautiful Helen. Castor havins: 
been killed, Pollux was permitted to partake of his 
immortality ; so tliat they lived and died, alternately, 
every six months. 

Jason, the chief of the Argonauts, particularly ce- 
lebrated for his conquest of the golden fleece at Col- 
chis : He was enabled to eftect it by the aid of Medea, 
who became his wife. 

Theseus, famous, in particular, for his destruction 
of the Minotaur. He effected it by the assistance of 
Ariadne, who rescued him from the Labyrinth by 
means of a clue of thread. 

The Twelve Labors of Hercules. 

1. The Lion of Nemea, which he strangled and 
wore the hide. The scene ot this action was in Ar- 
golis. 

2. The Hydra of Lerna, from which the heads, aa 
frequently as they were cut oif, sprang out again in 
great numbers. The scene of this action was like- 
wise in Argolis. 

S. The w ild boar of Mount Erymanthus, which he 
took alive and conveyed on his shoulders to Eurys- 
theus. Tlie soene o^ this action was in Arcadia. 

4. The Hind with brazen feet, which lie took in the 
chase on Mount Menale. The scene of this action 
was also m Arcadia. 

5. The teriible birds of lake Stymphalis, which 
were carnivorous. Hercules exterminated them by 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 45 

ahowers of arrows. The scene of this action was in 
Arcadia likewise. 

6. The Biiil of the island of Crete, which he con- 
veyed alive into Peloponnesus. The scene of this 
action, of course, was Crete. 

7. The Mares of Diomedes, which fed on human 
fiesh, and which Hercules carried oC The scene of 
this action v/as Thrace. 

8. The Girdle of Hypolyte, queen of the Amazons, 
which he secured after having defeated her. The 
scene of this action was Thermodon. 

9. The Stables of Augias, which he cleansed by 
changing the course of the river Alpheus. Tlie scene 
of this action was Elis. 

10. The monster Gerion, king of Gades, whom he 
killed, and carried oft' his flocks. The scene of this 
action was in Spain. 

11. The golden apples of the Hesperides, which he 
carried oft' after having killed the dragon. The scene 
of tliis action was in Africa. 

12. Theseus, whom he delivered from hell, and 
carried oil' the terrible three-headed dog Cerberus in 
chains. The scene of this action was hell. 

The Seven TVonders of the World, 

1. The Colossus of Rhodes, one hundred and five 
io-^t in height, between the legs of which vessels could 
pass. 

2. The Tomb of Mausoleus, king of Caria, erected 
bv Artemisia, his Mife, who was inconsolable for his 
deatli. 

3. The Pyramids of Egypt, several of which still 
exist. 

4. The Temple of Diana at Ephesus, set oo fire hy 



46 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Erostratus, for tlie purpose of rendering bis name 
immortal. 

5. The Statue of Jupiter Oljmpus, seventy-live 
feet in height, carved in gold and in ivory by Pliidias. 

6. The walls of Babylon and her celebrated Gar- 
dens suspended in the air. 

7. The famous Labyrinth, on the borders of Lake 
Mftris, in Egypt. 

Others have added to these wonders, the Palace of 
Cyrus, the Temple of Solomon, the Capital, the tow- 
er of Pharos, the Jupiter Amnion, the Minerva of 
Athens, &c. &c. 

Tlie Fhilosoj-fhers and their different Sects. 

Philosophy, among the Greeks, was designated as 
the love and the pursuit of wisdom or knowledge. It 
comprehended two distinct branches, namely, the 
study of nature, which elevates and ennobles the 
soul ; and the study of morals, which inspires us with 
virtue and conducts us to happiness. Many cele- 
brated men have traced different routes by which 
mankind may arrive at v.'isdom and felicity, and the 
diEerence of their principles has given birth to a great 
many sects, whereof I proceed to specily tlie most 
remarkable. 

The Greeks recognised two principal schools, sub- 
divided into several branches. The first of these 
principal schools was the Ionics founded by Thales, 
of Miletus, wlio lived about the year 680 before Jesus 
Christ. Thales was the first of the Greeks who studi- 
ed astronomy ; he fixed the computation of time ; 
and, according to him, water was the grand principle 
of all tilings. Anaxagoras, the master of Pericles, 
was one of his disciples ; but the honor and glory of 
his schooi was the famous* Socrates, the most wise, 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 47 

the most virtuoiis, and, perhaps, the most perfect of 
men. Socrates was the creator oi good morals and 
the discoverer of immortal truths. He believed in 
the unity of the godhead; in the immortality of the 
soul ; and in the rewards and punishments of a fu- 
ture life. He had a throng of distinguished disciples; 
among whom were Antisthenes, Alcibiades, Xeno- 
phon, Aristippus, and Euclides;but the most renowned 
of all was Plato. Plato, one of the finest genii of anti- 
quity, was the founder of the sect of the academy. He 
composed his doctrine of the physicks of Heraclitus, 
of the Metaphysicks of Pythagoras, and of the Mo- 
rals of Socrates. The Apology for Socrates, Phedon, 
or Dialogue on the Immortality of the Soul, and his 
Treatise of the Republic, are considered his best 
works. Of his numerous disciples, Aristotle, pre- 
ceptor of Alexander the Great, was tlie most cele- 
brated. He founded the sect of the Peripatetics, so 
named because they had a custom of giving their les- 
sons walking. Aristotle was the author of many 
works, the number and variety of which it would be 
difficult to specify. He was supposed to possess the 
most penetrating, vast, and solid intellect of antiqui- 
ty. He was the institutor of what is called logic. 
His Treatise on Rhetoric, his Poetics, and his Trea- 
tise on Politics, are the productions held in the most 
estimation. Antisthenes was founder of tiie sect 
of the Cynics. He placed the happiness of mankind 
in virtue, and virtue in the contempt of riches and of 
the enjoyments of life. Diogenes, his disciple, push- 
ed these maxims almost to delirium, and the idea 
of personal independence almost to the neglect of 
every thing like decorum. It was Diogenes who 
connected the ideas of effrontery and impudence 
with the word cynicy and thereby ruined the repu- 
tation of his sect. Zeno resuscitated it under .the 



4B HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

name Stoic, stripped of all its vices and embellished 
with all its virtues. Properly understood, it is the 
tnost excellent tfiat has been conceived, and is the 
most suitable to the true dignity of the human mind. 
The real stoic pursues virtue from inclination, and 
does good from choice : equally inaccessible to plea- 
sure and to grief, he flies from honors and applauses, 
and supports with equanimity the favors and the 
frowns of fortune. Always calm, always just, always 
master of himself, his fortitude and his reason are 
constantly employed for the preservation, in his soul, 
in all its integrity, oF that divine essence which ought 
always to maintain its empire over the brutal part of 
our nature. The true stoic is the image of all that ap- 
proaches nearest to the Deity ; in a word, he is a per- 
fect sage, which perhaps never existed. The most 
admirable characters of antiquity, such as Epaminon- 
das, Trajan, and Marcus Aurelius, professed the 
maxims of the stoic school, which ought to be those 
of all kings and of all who have the government of 
men. Tlie doctrine of the stoics, as well as that of 
other philosophical sects, will be found pourtrayed in 
a very lively and interesting manner in the Essays 
of David Hume. 

The second of these principal schools was the Ifa- 
llariy founded by Pythagoras, who lived about the 
year 560 before Jesus Christ. He left Samos, his 
native country, and fixed himself in Italy, where he 
produced a revolution in ideas and in morals. He 
taught the Metempsychosis, or transmigration of 
souls from one body to another, which occasioned 
those of his sect to abstain from the use of meats < 
The present system of the universe was first con- 
ceived by Pathagoras, who held that the Sun was 
placed in the centre of the planets, which moved in 
eliptical orbits round it. This system w^s, however, 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 



try was so strong, that he sometimes descended to 
inferior stations for the public good, as was the case 
when he yielded the command of the fleet at the bat- 
tle of Salamis to his rival Eiirybiades. He fortiued 
Athens and the Pirseus, and added to her navy. His 
countrymen, nevertheless, with their characteristic' 
caprice, banished him. He took refuge with Artax- 
erxes, the son of the same XerSes whom he had not a 
great while before driven out of Greece. He was 
received with great friendship and high honors by the 
sovereign of Persia, who assigned to him the revenue 
of three rich cities to find him in bread, meat, and 
wine. But Themistocles was still a Greek at heart, 
and pined for the mountains and vallies of Attica. 
He could not, in such a temper of mind, carry on war 
against Athens, and either poisoned himself or died 
broken-hearted. His bones were conveyed home by 
the Athenians, who erected a splendid monument to 
his memory. 

Aristides who has been called the just, was chiefly 
distinguished for his rio;id probity and temperance. He 
shrunk before the masterly genius of Themistocles, 
who occasioned his banisliment.* He M^as, however, 
recalled, took part in the Persian war, and distin- 
guished himself at the battle of Phitea, wliere he held 
command in conjunction with Pausanias. He died 
poor, was buried at the public expense, and in consi- 
deration of the father's virtue and their indigence 
his daiigliters, wlien marriageable, received a dowry 
from the purse of the republic. 

Nicias was a general of much. courage and expe- 
rience, but of a fearful understanding, slov/, and in- 
decisive. It was !ie, who contrary to his own advice 
and will, had the direction of the expedition against Si- 
cilv, in concert with Demosthenes, another o-eneral, 
who, we are to observe, was not the G;reat orator of 
D 



S8 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

that name. They both perished by tlie haiuis of tlie 
hangman, contrary to the law of nations and the faith 
of treaties. 

Conon was an Athenian naval commander, who 
obtained celebrity by his successes and his misfor- 
tunes. 

Brasidas, Gylippus, and Callicratidas, exhibited 
considerable talents and effected great things on the 
part of the Lacedemonians : but Lysander eclipsed 
them all : He covered his country with glory by his 
successes. He was arrogant and fond of praise — 
but valiant in battle and subtle in council. He aim- 
ed at absolute power, but never could completely at- 
tain it, and jfinally fell in a combat with the Haliar- 
tans, who attacked him by surprise. The spoils of 
Athens eventually avenged her misfortunes upon her 
victorious rival. They were for Sparta the empoison- 
ed tunic of Nessus ; for the riches which Lysander 
introduced into the bosom of his country paved the 
way for the destruction of the Lacedemonians. 

The reader who is curious to go more at large into 
the history of the illustrious men who were particu- 
larly distinguished among the Greeks, may resort to 
the entertaining biography of Plutarch : But I must 
not altogether omit the story of Xenophon and the 
wonderful retreat of the ten thousand. This is an 
action, the most celebrated of its kind that history 
has transmitted to us. Tlie young Cyrus, brother of 
Artaxerxes Mnemon, king of Persia, commanded in 
the Western provinces of that empire in Asia Minor. 
Impelled by a blind and culpable ambition, he revolt- 
ed against his sovereign and marched upon Babylon 
at tlie head of 100,000 barbarians and of 13,000 
Greeks, with the intention of dethroning his brother: 
The latter met him at the head of more than 900,000 
men. The tf/o armies fought on the plains of Ct?-* 



filSTORICAL LETTERS. S9 

iiaxa, within sixty miles of tlie capital of the empire. 
The young Cyrus, in the midst oi victory, seized with 
fury at the sight of his brother, rushed impetuously 
lipun him, but was thrown from his horse and slain. 
Ihe Greeks, wlio, in the wing where they were station- 
ed, had achieved an entire victory, found themselves 
placed by the death of Cyrus in a very singular pre- 
dicament. Deprived of their prince, environed by 
enemies, more than 1800 miles from home, \\ithout 
provisions and without allies, they were summoned 
to surrender : But they proudly refused, and demand- 
ed a free and peaceable passage to their country : 
this was granted to them ; for the Persians w ere afraid 
to attack them, and believed it easier to destroy them 
by treachery than subdue them by force. In truth, 
Clearchus, with many otlier of their officers, were 
soon afterwards put to death. Xenophon, a young 
Athenian, full of wisdom, revived the drooping spirits 
of his companions on this trying occasion, and they 
placed him at their head. It was he who had the glo- 
ry of effecting this memorable retreat, so often refer- 
red to by men of science as one of the most admira- 
ble expeditions recorded in the annals of nations. 
Constantly pursued by a multitude of enemies, the 
Gieeks had to pass rivers, to cross mountains, and to 
traverse deserts innumerable. In a word they were 
perpetually compelled to fight, to vancpush, to march, 
to find themselves in provisions ; and yet it was not 
above fifteen months, after having overcome every 
natural obstacle as well as the attacks of their foes, 
that the ten thousand Greeks, reduced to eight thou- 
sand six hundred, reached their native borders. They 
had marched upwards of 1,500 leagues. The sage 
Xenophon, who was their guide and became their his- 
torian, has immortalized himself under both these 
titles. He w as a disciple of Socrates, and devoted 



40 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

himself during the Litter part of his life to philoso- 
phy and literature. His style of writing was so dis- 
tinguished for simplicity and sweetness that he ob- 
tained the surname of the Bee of Greece, and Quin- 
lilian has paid him a high compliment on the beauty 
of his diction. All he wrote was calculated to in- 
spire his readers with a love of virtue, to whose dic- 
tates he likewise conformed in his personal deport- 
ment. C. 



LETTER IX. 

AS a person embarking on his travels into distant 
countries, casts, from on shipboard, a lingering, fare- 
well look, towards the receding shore, and recalls to 
his mind a thousand pleasing incidents ; so I, in 
passing from my brief historical view of ancient 
Greece, cannot resist the temptation of recurring to 
the fabulous part oi her annals. Her history is that 
of gods, of heroes, and of great men. It is through 
her that v.e have come to the knowledge of nations 
which preceded her, and of those ^^ hich were cotem- 
poraneous with her : And it is impossible to contem- 
plate subjects connected with the arts and sciences 
without thinking of a country where they chiefly ori- 
ginated and were brought to the greatest perfection. 
Considerations like tiiese incline us to view w ith re- 
verence, and regard as important, every invention 
and every institution of the Grecian commonwealths. 
This letter, therefore, will be devoted to a sketch of 
the Divinities, of the Muses, of the Demigods, of the 
Twelve Labors of Hercules, the seven wonders of 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 41 

the World, and of the different sects of Philosophers 
of Antiquity, all of which are, more or less, interwo- 
ven with the establishments of the Greeks. 

Principal Divinities of the Pa^an World, 

Jupiter, the master of the j2;ods, was the son of Sa- 
turn, and had Juno for his wife. 

Neptune, brotlier of Jupiter and god of the Ocean, 
had Amphitrite for wife. 

Pluto, brother of Jupiter and god of hell, was mar- 
ried to Proserpine, the daughter of Ceres. 

Mars, the god of war, had Bellona for his sister 
and Terror and Fear for children. 

Minerva, or Pallas, (spruno; from the brain of Jupi- 
ter,) goddess of wisdom, of the arts, and of w ar. 

Venus, goddess of love and beauty; the Smiles and 
Graces compose her train. 

. Cupid, the son of Venus and of Vulcan, who presid- 
ed over fii-e, and was i\\^ patron of all artists who 
worked in iron and metal. 

Apollo, or Phoebus, son of Jupiter and Latona, god 
of Music and Poetry. He conducted the chariot of 
the Sun and presided at the concerts of tl'.e Muses. 

Diana, sister of Apollo, goddess of the chase ; In 
hell she is called Hecate. 

Ceres, presided over agriculture. The 2;o^ Ter- 
minus presided over the bounds and limits of land. 

Hebe, goddess of youth ; and Ganymede, em- 
ployed by Jupiter to pour out nectar for the gods. 

Bacchus, god of wine ; Old Silenus was his foster- 
father. 

Mercury, messenger of the gods and god of craft, 
and eloquence. He had a variety of octu]>ations as- 
signed him. Themis, was the goddess of Justice. 
D 2 



A2 HISTORICAL LETTERS, 

Iris, with rain-bow wings, of a thousand colors, 
was the messenger of Juno. 

Aurora, with rosy fingers, goddess of the morning. 
Morpheus, god of sleep and dreams. 

^olus, god of winds and tempests. Nemesis god- 
dess of vengeance. 

Flora and Pomona, goddesses of flowers and of 
fruits. Pan and Sjlvanus, gods of shepherds and of 
groves. 

Dryads, Hamadryads, and Lymnades, nymphs of 
woods, trees, and lakes. 

Naiades, nymphs of woods and mountains : Ne- 
reides, nymphs of the sea. 

Syrens, sea-nymphs, who enchanted passengers by 
tlie melody of their voices. 

Fawns and Satyrs, country divinities, followers of 
Bacchus. 

The three Graces, Aglaia, Euphrosina, and Thalia, 
followers of Venus. 

The three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, 
who presided over human life. 

The three Furies, Alecto, Megera, and Tisiphonc, 
arrhed with torches and with serpents. 

The tln-ee Judges of Hell, Minos, ^acus, and 
Rhadamantlius. 

The three Harpies, with antiquated visages, the 
bodies of vultures, and claws of iron. 

The three Uesperides, Eglea, Arethusa, and Hy- 
perethusa, who guarded the golden apples. 

The three Gorgons, (who had between them only 
one eye and one tooth,) Euryale, Medusa, and Stheno: 
they changed into stone all who looked upon them. 



KISTORICAL LETTERS. 43 

The JS^ine Muses, who pr^e sided over the Liberal 
' Arts; with their Mtributes, 

Clio, presides over History ; crowned with laurel, 
having a trumpetnirid a book. 

Euterpe, presides over Music ; crowned with flow- 
ers and playing the flute. 

Thalia, presides over Comedy; having on socks 
or sandals, and holding a mask in her hand. 

Melpomene, presides over Tragedy ; having on 
buskins, and armed with a poignard. 

Terpsichore, presides over Dancing; crowned with 
garlands, and holding a harp. 

Erato, presides over lyric poetry ; crowned with 
mvrtle and roses, holdino; a Ivre. 

Polyhymnia, presides over rhetoric ; crowned with 
jewels and armed with a sceptre. 

Calliope, presides over eloquence and heroic poe- 
try ; crowned with laurel. 

Urania, presides over astronomy ; crowned with 
stars and holding a celestial globe. 

The Heroes, or Demigods; and their principal ac- 
tions, 

Perseus, the son of Jupiter and Danpe, husband of 
Andromeda, whom he delivered from a sea monster: 
His principal action was his victory over the Gor- 
gons ; one of whom, Medusa, he slew* 

Hercules, the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, luis- 
band oi" Dejanira, is tlie most celebrated of all the 
Heroes or Demigods : He is particularly famous for 
his twelve labors. 

Orpheus : The most rapid rivers restrained their 
currents; the most savage beasts hastened from the 
forests ; the mountains descended from their sum- 



44 HISTORICAL LETTERS; 

inits to their bases, at tlie sound of his harmoiiious 
voice. He charmed all hell with his Ivre, and ob- 
tained from Pluto permission for his wile Eurydice 
to return to tlie earth on conditions which his impa- 
tience did not permit him to fulfil. 

Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Jupiter and Leda, 
and brothers of the beautiful Helen. Castor having 
been killed, Pollux was permitted to partake of his 
immortality ; so that they lived and died, alternately, 
every six months. 

Jason, the chief of the Argonauts, particularly ce- 
lebrated for his conquest of tlie g;olden fleece at Col- 
chis : He was enabled to effect it by the aid of Medea, 
Vrho became his wife. 

Theseus, famous, in particular, for his destruction 
of the Minotaur. He effected it by the assistance of 
Ariadne, who rescued him from the Labyrinth by 
means of a clue of thread. 

The Twelve Labors of Hercules. 

1. The Lion of Nemea, which he strangled and 
wore the hide. The scene of this action was in Ar- 
golis. 

2. The Hydra of Lerna, from which the heads, as 
frequently as they were cut off, sprang out again in 
great numbers. The scene of this action was like- 
wise in Argolis. 

S. The wild boar of Mount Erymanthus, which he 
took alive and conveyed on his shoulders to Eurys- 
theus. The soene oi this action was in Arcadia. 

4. The Hind with brazen feet, which he took in the 
chase on Mount Menale. The scene of this action 
was also in Arcadia. 

5. The terrible birds of lake Stymphalis, which 
weje carnivorous. Hercui^^s exterminated them by 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 45 

showers of arrows. The scene of this action was in 
Arcadia likewise. 

6. The Bull of the island of Crete, which he con- 
veyed alive into Peloponnesus. The scene of this 
action, of course, was Crete. 

7. Tlie Mares of Diomedes, which fed on human 
flesh, and which Hercules carried off. The scene of 
this action was Thrace. 

8. The Girdie of Hypolyte, queen of the Amazons, 
which he secured after having defeated her. The 
scene of this action was Thermodon. 

9. The Stables of Augias, which he cleansed by 
changing the course of the river Alpheus. The scene 
of this action was Elis. 

10. The monster Gerion, king of Gades, whom he 
killed, and earned off his flocks. The scene of this 
action was in Spain. 

11. The golden apples of the Hesperides, which he 
carried off after having killed the dragon. The scene 
of this action was in Africa. 

l'-2. Theseus, whom he delivered from hell, and 
cairied ofl'the terrible three-headed dog Cerberus ia 
chains. The scene of this action was hell. 

The Seven Wonders of the World, 

1. The Colossus of Rhodes, one hundred and five 
feet in height, between the legs of which vessels could 
pass. 

2. The Tomb of Mausoleus, king of Caria, erected 
by Artemisia, his wife, who was inconsolable for his 
death. 

3. The Pyramids ot Egypt, several of which still 
exist.' 

4. The Temple of Diana at Ephesus, set on fire by 



46 HISTORICAL LETTERS, 

Erostratus, for the purpose of rendering his name 
immortal. 

5. The Statue of Jupiter Olyinpus, seventy-five 
feet in heiglit, carved in gold and in ivorvby Piiidias. 

6. The \valis of Babylon and her celebrated Gar- 
dens suspended in the air. 

7. The famous Labyrinth, on the borders of Lake 
Mceris, in Egypt. 

Others have added to these wonders, the Palace of 
Cyrus, the Temple of Solomon, the Capital, the tow- 
er of Pharos, the Jupiter Amnion, the Minerva of 
Athens, &c. &:c. 

Tlie Philosophers and their different Sects, 

Philosophy, among tlje Greeks, was designated as 
the love and the pursuit of wisdom or knowledge. It 
comprehended two distinct branches, namely, the 
study of nature, which elevates and ennobles the 
soul ; and tlie study of morals, which inspires us w itb 
virtue and conducts us to happiness. Many cele- 
brated men have traced different routes by which 
mankind may arrive at wisdom and felicity, and the 
difference of their principles has given birth to a great 
many sects, whereof I procted to specify the must 
remarkable. 

The Greeks recognised two principal schools, sub- 
divided into several branches. The first of iheae 
principal schools was the Ionic, founded by Thales, 
of Miletus, who lived about the year 680 before Jesus 
Christ. Thales was the first of the Gieeks who studi- 
ed astronomy; he fixed tlie computation of time ; 
and, according to him, water was the grand principle 
of ail things. Anaxagoras, the master of Pericles, 
was one of his disciples ; but the honor and glory of 
his school was the famous Socrates, the most wise. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 47 

tlie most virtuous, and, perliaps, the most perfect of 
men. Socrates uas tlie creator o; good morals and 
the discoverer of immortal truths. lie believed in 
the unity of the godhead ; in the immortality of the 
«o\il ; and in the rewards and punishments of a fu- 
ture life. He had a throng of distinguished disciples; 
among wliom were Antisthenes, Alcibiades, Xeno- 
phon, Aristippus, and Euclides; but the most renowned 
of all was Plato. Plato, one of the finest genii ot anti- 
quity, was the founder of the sect of the academy. He 
composed his doctrine of the physicks of Heraclitus, 
of the Metaphy sicks of Pythagoras, and of the Mo- 
rals of Socrates. The Apology for Socrates, Phedon, 
or Dialogue on the Immortality of the Soul, and his 
Treatise of the Republic, are considered his best 
works. Of his numerous disciples, Aristotle, pre- 
ceptor of Alexander the Great, was the most cele- 
brated. He founded the sect of tlie Peripatetics, so 
named because they had a custom of giving their les- 
sons walking. Aristotle was the author of many 
works, the number and variety of which it would be 
difficult to specify. He was supposed to possess the 
most penetrating, vast, and solid intellect of antiqui- 
ty. He was the institutor of what is called logic. 
His Treatise on Rhetoric, his Poetics, and his Trea- 
tise on Politics, are the productions held in tlie most 
estimation. Antisthenes was founder of the sect 
of the Cynics. He placed the happiness of mankind 
in virtue, and virtue in tlie contempt of riclies and of 
the enjoyments of life. Diogenes, Ids disciple, push- 
ed these maxims almost to delirium, and the idea 
of personal independence almost to the neglect of 
every thing like decorum. It was Diogenes who 
connected the ideas of effrontery and impudence 
with the word cynic, and thereby ruined the repu- 
tation of his sect, Zeno resuscitated it under tlie 



48 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

name Stoic, stripped of all its vices and embellished 
with all its virtues. Properly understood, it is the 
most excellent that has been conceived, and is the 
most suitable to the true dignity of the human mind. 
The real stoic pursues virtue from inclination, and 
does good from choice : equally inaccessible to plea- 
sure and to griel, he flies fi'om lionors and applauses, 
and supports with equanimity tlie favors and the 
frowns oi fortune. Always calm, always just, always 
mastei" of himself, his fortitude and his reason are 
constantly employed for the preservation, in his soul, 
in all its integrity, ol that divine essence which ought 
always to maintain its empire over the brutal part of 
our nature. The true stoic is the image of all that ap- 
proaches nearest to the Deity ; in a word, he is a per- 
fect sage, whicli perhaps never existed. The most 
admirable characters of antiquity, such as Epaminon- 
das, Trajan, and Marcus Aurelius, professed the 
maxims of the stoic school, wliich ought to be those 
of all kings and of all who have the government of 
men. The doctrine of the stoics, as well as that of 
other pliilosopliical sects, will be found pourtrayed in 
a very lively and interesting manner in the Essays 
of J)avid Hume. 

The second of these principal schools w^as the 7f«- 
liariy founded by Pytliagoras, who lived about the 
year 560 before Jesus Christ. He left Samos, his 
native country, and fixed l)imself in Italy, where he 
produced a revolution in ideas and in morals. He 
taught the IMetempsychosis, or transmigration of 
souls from one body to another, which occasioned 
those of his sect to abstain^rom the use of meats. 
The present system of the universe was first con- 
ceived by Pathagoras, who held that the Sun was 
placed in the centre of the planets, which moved in 
eliptical orbits round it. This svstem was, howevei". 



HISTORI(!JAL LETTKRSi 49 

regarded as a cliimera, till it was verified in the six- 
teenth century of our era. The Italian school pro- 
duced four sects, which were more celebrated for 
their singularity tlian for their justness or utility ; 
that of Heraclitus, of which misanthropy formed the 
chief characteristic: he wept at every thing. Democri- 
tus, on the contrar}^ the most celebrated of Uie Eleatic 
sect, laughed at every thing, banished care, and in- 
culcated indifference. Virtue, according to him, does 
not differ from vice, only in the 0])inio!is of men: He 
believed tliat the soul perishes with the body, lie 
did not admit a supreme author of the universe, but 
substituted the doctrine of a concussion of atoms, 
which, by their rencontre in a grand vacuum, com- 
posed the organization of the world : he moreover 
maintained that every thing is incomprehensible, and 
that he was not certain of his own existence. Pyrrho 
has given his name to the Pyrrhoneans or Sceptics ; 
that is to say, those who doubted every thing, because 
in every thing they found reasons for aflirming and 
for denying : he held that there was no difference be- 
tween life and death. Epicurus has given his name 
to the sect of Epicureans, the basis of whose princi- 
ples may be found in the doctrine of Democritus. 
Epicurus propagated the system of atoms, did not be- 
lieve that the Deity interfered in the affairs of this 
world, and placed happiness, or the supreme good, in 
voluptuousness. But, in truth, many contend that 
Epicurus merely alluded to a voluptuousness of soul; 
namely, those delicious emotions which arise from 
the practice of virtue and are the sweetest recompense 
of good actions. Be this as it may, his disciples, 
abandoned to their natuial inclinations, exempt, by 
their principles, from the restraint of religion and a 
belief in God, have recognised nothing but a sensual 
E 



50 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

voluptuousness, by which they have discredited theiV 
master and ruined his doctrines. 

Before I close this letter, it mny be proper to re- 
mark, that the prevailing opinion is, that the Greeks 
received the germs of tlieir knowledge from the 
Egyptians. Lesage asserts, that a Frencli inquirer 
into the soundness of this opinion, ol the name of 
Petit-Radel, has given to the institute of France se- 
veral lectures to prove that Greece was civilized a 
long time before the arrival of colonies from Egypt ; 
and by the analogy of certain fortifications, (between 
which and those of the Peruvians he has also disco- 
vered a singular identity,) Petit-Radel does not de- 
spair ot being enabled to trace up an original con- 
nexion between the Greeks and the Hyperborean na- 
tions, who inhabited the northern parts at Europe and 
Asia. In corroboration of this new theory, I will add 
that De Pauw, (quoting Diodorus,) states, that no 
passage of Athenian history discovers the slighest 
proof that any colony ever arrived there from Egypt. 
To terminate this matfer, (continues De Pauw,) we 
have the testimony of Plato, who affirms that not a 
single drop of Egyptian blood ever circulated in the 
veins, of the Athenians. C. 



LETTER X. 

The Persians — Macedonians — E.vpedltion of Jllex- 
ander the Great — and the Quarrels of his Generals. 

THE Persian monarchy lasted for about two 
hundred years ; fro>ia the year 538 to the year 336 



HISTORICAL letters; 51 

before Christ. It was Ibuiided by Cjrus, who, by in- 
heritance or by cofiqiiest, reunited under one head 
the kingdoms oi' Persia, ol' Media, of Lydia, of Ba- 
bylon, and of Nineveh. Historians do not a«;ree in 
the circunistaiices of the biitli, actions, virtues, and 
death ofthis prince. Those wiio have undertaken to 
describe hiui are Herodotus, Ctesias, and Xenophon. 
Herodotus atid Xenophon are altogether opposed to 
each other in their recital of the leading incidents of 
the reign of Cyius. Cicero thinks that u e ought not 
to regard tiie work of Xenopiion as a genuine history, 
but merelv as an historical romance, wherein the au- 
thor has painted his hero, !iot what he is, but what he 
ought to be. Yet the facilities which Xenophon en- 
jo ed of obtaining intoiniation from an authentic 
source at the court of the younger Cyrus, and the well- 
known partiality of the Greeks in geneial against the 
Persian.^^, have induced many to prefer Xenophon, 
who is favorable to them, to Herodotus, who seems 
on all occasions to decry them too much. 

The Persian dominion extended from the Indus to 
the Euxiue and the Mediteiranean, and from the Jax- 
artes and the Casj)ian sea to Ethiopia, Arabia, and 
the Persian Gulf. Babylon, of course, became a prin- 
cipal city of the Persian monarchy, Cyrus having 
made himself master of it by turning tiie course of 
the Eu])hrates. It may not be amiss to mention here, 
what might have been more properly inserted under 
the description of the Assyrian monarchy, namely, 
that in tlie time of Semiramis, (tr of her immediate suc- 
cessors, two magniiicent palaces, erected on tlie op- 
posite shores of the Euphrates, communicated with 
each other by a subterranean vault constructed under 
the river ; in one of these palaces were to be found 
those sus])ended gardens, so famous among the 
Greeks. Susa, Ecbatana, and Perscpolis, were ce-r 



5-2 Historical letteris. 

lebrated cities of Persia, and occasionally the resi- 
dence of the royal family. Passaa:?ida was the place 
whcj'e the kin<*;s were usually crowned. 

The chief occurrences of Persian history, exchw 
sive of the expeditions O' Darius and Xerxes into 
(Greece, aiid the retreat of the ten tiiousand Greeks 
under Xenophon, (which I have already noticed,) are, 
tlie incidents connected with the life of the founder 
(Jyrus ; one of which was the overthrow and captivi- 
ty of Crcesus, the most wealthy of mankind, who 
marched witli four hundred and twenty thousand 
infantry and sixty thousand cavalry to appose Cyrus, 
wlio had only two hundred thousand under his com- 
mand, with which he defeated Crcesus and condemn- 
ed him to be burnt alive, i)ut afterwards reversed the 
sentence and made Crcesus his friend, on the cap- 
tive's having recited to Cyrus certain observations of 
Solon relative to human happiness. 

Eocpedltion of Alexander — Macedonian Monarchy. 

The Persian empire became extinct by the death 
of Darius Codomanus, who was attacked l)y Alexan- 
der the Great : It was succeeded b}" the Macedonian 
monarchy, M'hich was founded by Alexander. This 
conqr.eror was tlie son of Philip, king of ■NJacedon, 
and of Olympias his wife. Philip was a sagacious, 
artful, intriguing, and valiant prince; and by fraud 
and force had subjugated the states of Greece to his 
control. It was against the machinations of Philip 
tliat Demosthenes, the illustrious Athenian orator, 
distinguished himself. He roused his fellow-citizens 
to a sense of their danger; and, if his courage had 
been equal to his eloquence, he might, perhaps, have 
saved tl\e sinking fortunes of his country : But in the 
battle of Cheronpa he flod like a coward, and the 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 



5S 



Greeks lost their independence. The ambition of 
Philip was the cause of some of the best orations of 
Demosthenes, which are hence called Fhilippics. 
This prince had prepared to invade Asia at the head 
of an army of Macedonians and Greeks, when he 
was suddenly slain by an assassin, at the instigation, 
as has been supposed, of his wife Olympias, who was 
jealous of him. Alexander, who succeeded Philip, 
determined to prosecute the projected enterprise of 
his father, and at an age not exceeding twenty-live, 
he undertook that expedition which has inspired pos- 
terity with so mucli admiration oii account of its bril- 
liancy and extent. He left the shores of Greece, ac 
companied by only thirtv thousand foot and five 
tliousand .horse, one month's provisions, and seventy 
talents, or about fifty thousand dollars. vSuch were 
the means by whicli he sallied forth to con(|uer the 
richest and most powerful empire of the world. 

The first exploit of the Macedonian hero was the 
passage of the Granicus, which river he crossed in the 
face of one hundred and ten thousand Persians, com- 
manded by Memnon of Rhodes, the wisest and the 
most able of the generals of Darius. Twenty thou- 
sand of the enemy fell in the action, and Asia Minor 
became the fruit of this first victory. Sardis, Ephe- 
sus, Miletus, and Halicarnassus, were taken or sub- 
mitted : He entered Gordium, where it is said he cut 
the celebrated knot, upon wliich, according to the 
oracle, depended the dominion of the world. Tra- 
versing Phrygia and Cappadocia, he marclied upon 
Tarsus, where he was seized with a dangerous ma- 
lady in consequence of his having, when over-heated, 
bathed in the river Cydnus. It was on this occasion 
that he exliibited that celebrated trait of magnanimi- 
,tv in an interview with his physician Philip, when he 
tpok with confidence and without hesitation the un 



E ii 



.t4 historical letters, 

known potion which Philip offeied to him, notwith- 
standing he had been previously apprised that it was 
intended to poison him. The battle of the Granicus 
took place in tlie year 334 before Christ. ' 

Alexander had Scarcely recovered when he pur- 
sued Darius, who had reassembled an immense force, 
and gained over the Persian king the renowned bat- 
tle of Issus, in the defiles of Cilicia, which separate 
Asia Minor from Syria. It is said that the Persians 
lost in this action one hundred thousand men ; the 
mother, the wife, and the children of Darius being 
made prisoners, and himself escaping with difficulty 
fro^m tlie hands of the concpieror. After this victory 
Alexander marched through Syria ; took Damascus, 
full of the immense treasures. of Darius; destroyed 
Tvre, vvliich he carried bv assault after a difficult 
siege of seven months; entered Jerusalem; sacked 
Gaza; connpelled Egypt to submit; visited in the 
desert the temple of Jupiter Ammon, where he caus- 
ed himself, (by bribing tlie priests,) to be acknowledg- 
«.m1 as tlie son of that god ; and founded the well- 
known city of Alexandria. 

Alexander departed from Egypt in search of Da- 
rius, who had vainly made several times the most 
advantageous propositions of peace. Darius assem- 
bled all tlie forces of his empire on the eastern shore 
of the Tigris, the most rapid oi all the rivers oF Asia. 
Alexander crossed the Euphrates and the Tigris and 
arrived witiiin view o; the Persian army between Gau- 
gamel and Arbela. It was on this famous field that 
the fate of Asia was decided. The Macedonian kinjr, 
at; the head of torty thousand foot and from seven to 
eight thousand horse, combated six hundred and ^(ty 
thousand Persians, of whom were slain, it is said, three 
hundred thousand men. This is the battle that de- 
stroyed the Persian monarchy, made Darius a fugi* 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 55 

tive, and rendered Alexander immortal. It was 
fought in the year 331 before Jesus Chi-ist. Baby- 
lon and Susa became the first Fruits of this victory, as 
did t^ersepolis, to which, in a moment of excessive 
drunkenness, he set fire, at the instigation, as we are 
told, of the courtezan Thais. 

Alexander did not relinquish his pursuit of Darius, 
who eventually fell, a victim to t!ie most infamous 
treason. _ The satrap Bessus, one of his officers, snz- 
ed upon him for the purpose of making terms for him- 
self with the victor, or, in case of a reverse of fortune, 
to ])lace himself on the throne of Persia. Perpetu- 
ally harassed4)y the enemy, this traitor basely assas- 
sinated his sovereign who refused to follow him. 
Alexander, afflicted at the death of Darius, immedi- 
ately went in quest of his murderer; but despairing 
of overtaking him at that time, he repaired to Heca- 
tompolis, the capital of Partliia, where he reposed liis 
troops. Soon after, however, he resumed his victori- 
ous march, entered Hyrcania, and subjugated all the 
nations to the south ol the Oxus. It is there where 
the scene of his interview, (no doubt fabulous,) with 
Thalestris, queen of the Amazons, is placed. She had 
come a great distance, it seems, to contem»plate th^ 
man whose fame filled the whole world. It is said by 
some, that on seeing him she expressed her contempt 
at the smallness of his stature; by others, that her . 
desire was to leave posterity by Alexander. Be it 
as it may, this is most certain and unfortunate for 
his glory, that about this time he caused Philotas and 
Parmenio his father to be put to death ; the one hav- 
ing until that time been his friend ; the other the most 
illustrious, the most zealous, the most faithful of his 
generals. The son was put to death under the pretext 
of a conspiracy; and the father was most vilely as- 
sassinated for fear he should avensre the death of his 



56 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

son. These are the first stains upon the memory of 
Alexander ; anil, dark as thej may be considered, 
they are, unhappily, neither the only ones nor the 
worst. This prince, obstinately bent on the punish- 
ment of Bessus, crossed the country, rendered sterile 
by nature or devastated by the enemy, who believed 
himsel' safe from the Macedonians on account of the 
deseVts. The constancy of Alexander surmountecK 
every obstacle. He finally got possession of Bessus, 
who was delivered up by his own partizans in Sogdi- 
ana, and found in a terrible death the punishment of 
a regicide. He was reconducted toEcbatana, where, 
after having been mutilated, he was faiftend alive to 
four trees, which by force had been bent together, 
and which, returning to their natural position with a 
spring, tore asunder the limbs of the culprit. 

Alexander at length arrived at the Jaxartes, which 
formed the northern bounds of the Persian empire. 
He seized Cyropolis,- whicli was founded by Cyrus, 
crossed the river and defeated the Barbarians who 
inhabited the opposite shore. He afterwards aban- 
doned this route, for the pui-pose of employing him- 
self in more solid enterprises, and turned his mind 
?ind his marcTi towards the regions of India. At Ma- 
jracanda, the capital of Sogdiana, he slew, in a fit of 
drunkenness, old Clytus. This brave veteran, bro- 
ther of the prince's nurse, expired under his blows 
after having saved the life of Alexander in the first 
of his victories, when crossing the Granicus. 

The Macedonian monarch now crossed the Indus, 
and arrived on the Indian territory. Taxiles, a king 
of that country, received him in a friendly manner ; 
but another, named Porus, opposed him courageously. 
More brave than fortunate, this last was defeated 
en the other side of the Hydaspes, and fell into the 



HISTORICAL LETTEHS. 57 

|>ower of Alexander, whose esteem he secured by his 
Valor. 

Always victorious, and possessing the greatest 
avidity for conquests, Alexander directed his steps 
towards tlie Ganges, with the intention of crossing it 
and penetjating to the eastern bound arses of the 
earth. But his soldiers, frightened by the difficulties 
aud the deserts of this unknown country, refused to 
follow him, and compelled him to renounce his inten- 
tion. He returned upon the Indus by Oxydrace, at 
the sie"e of which he was near iosing; his life, havinjj 
mounted tae. wails aloae and leaped into the city, 
where he was under the necessity oi defending him- 
self single-handed against a multitude of enemies, 
until his soldiers had forced the gates and come to 
his succour. 
. Alexander afterwards descended the Indus and 
arrived within sijiht of the ocean, where he observed 
with surprise the new and curious spectacle ol its flux 
and reflux, to which lie vvas a stranger as well as 
those who%^ere with him. He then took the road to 
Babylon; leaving his fleet, under the command of 
Nearchus, to navigate an unkrmwn sea. It arrived, 
however, in safety, at the port of Harmosias, situ- 
ated at the entrance of the Persian gulf. 

On his return, Alexander espoused Statira at Per- 
sepolis : she was the eldest dauditer of Darius. He 
gave her youngest sister to Hepliestion, the most be- 
loved of alt his favoriteSjWho died soon afterwards frora. 
an excess of intemperance. The victorious, the gieat, 
the immortal Alexander, speedily followed him, a 
victim also to a shameful death. He died in the 
thirty-second year of his age, at Babylon, after hav- 
ing made his triumphal entry and exposed the spoils 
of the East to the view of the ambassadors assembled 
there from all part."* of the earth. Such is th« expe- 



58 _ HISTORICAL LETTER^. 

ditionof this great captain, of this celebrated heroj 
It is computed that in less tliau seven years he had 
caused liis army to travel over a fepace of two thou- 
sand leagues or six thousand miles. 

Quarrels of the Generals of Alexander, 

The conquests of Alexander were, without doubt, a 
scouige to his people; but h.is death was for them a 
catastropiie still more afflicting. This will be con- 
fessed wlien it is known that the dissentions between 
the Macedonian otlicers of the first rank, who sur- 
vived him, lasted for twenty-four vears, and they 
were distinguished chieily by blootly battles, pillage, 
perfidy, and murder. 

Alexander would not name his successor for fear 
he should not be obeyed ; but at the moment of his 
death he gave a ritig to Perdiccas, who was one of 
the most celebrated of his generals. In consecjuence 
of this circumstance he was nominated by his col- 
leagues regent daring the minority of flie son of 
Alexander. He attempted to make use of this title 
to secure the empire to himself; but his compairlons 
b'lfiied his designs, and he perished two years after- 
wards, in the ye.'.r 3^2^2 before Christ, being slain in 
his tent in Kgypt, where he waged a fruitless war 
against Ptolemy. 

' Antipater was intrusted with the regency after 
Perdiccas : Fipirus in Greece fell to his government : 
he quelled the revolt of Athens, and was the occa- 
sion oftlie dea')> of Demosthenes the orator. A re- 
gency like that of Antipater appears to have been no- 
thing more tlian a vain title of now cr, serving as a 
pretext for quarrels with his colleagues. It was, in 
eftect, for him nothing but a source of expeditions 
and alarms. AVhen he died he bequeiitheil the re.- 



IlISTORlCAL LETTERS. 59 

gsencj LoPolysphercoM ; but reserved the states under 
his rule for his son Cassander. 

J olysphercon, the oldest of Alexander's captains, 
enjoyed the regency after Aiitipater. He had a con- 
test with Athens, and occasioned the death of the 
virtuous Pliocioii. lie recalled Olynipias, the mother 
of Alexander, to the government ; and iier return was 
an augmentation of the prevailing troubles. The 
regency of Polysphercon was one continued scene of 
terrible warfare between Idmand Cassander, the son 
of Antipater. The two rivals both contended that 
they were the su])porteus of the interests of the son 
of Alexander. During their contlicls Olynipias was 
massacred. 

Eumen3s, of an obscure birth, but to whom Alex- 
ander had given the sister o! one of his wives in mar- 
riage, was one of the most accomplished of the Mace- 
donian chiefs, as well in the qualities of the heart as 
by his talents for war. lie was the most deserving 
of all the captains of Alexander, but the portion of 
territory that fell to his share was the worst of all. 
He had Cappadocia, where, nevertheless, Antigonus 
would not permit him to establisli himself. His life 
was a perpetual combat: He defeated and silled Cra- 
terus, and beat Antipater ; but was vanquished, deli- 
vered up bv treachery to Antigonus, and perished iw 
the year before Christ 315. 

Craterus had been a i'avorite of Alexander, to 
whom he had always showed himself a rigid and vir- 
tuous courtier. He enjoyed such a high reputation 
among the Macedonians that they were desirous of 
seeing him succeed Alexander. He allied himself 
with Antipater, and was beaten and killed by Eu- 
menes in the year before Christ 321. 

Antigonus had his partition of empire in Asia: He 
was the first that took the title of king, and aimed at 



60 HISTORICAL LETTERS, 

universal monarchy. He was ably seconded by his 
son Demetrius Polyorcetes, (that is, a destroyer of 
towns,) a prince, whose spirit, gracefulness, courage, 
and generosity, cast a peculiar lustre over this me- 
lancholy period of atrocities. The overgrown pow- 
er of Antigonus alarmed the other generals of Alex- 
ander, who united against him, fought the famous 
battle of tiie Ipsus, where he was beaten and killed 
301 year& before Christ. Tliis action decided the 
Macedonian empire, which was definitively divided 
between the four great chiefs who had combined 
against Antigonus. The life of Demetrius, after the 
death of his father, was a succession of military ad- 
ventures, which evinced the ardor of his courage 
more than the wisdom of liis policy. He conquered 
and lost provinces, was for a moment king of Mace- 
donia, and died in the chains of Seleucus in the year 
before Christ 285. 

The four kingdoms that grew out of these dissentlons, 
weie Egypt, Syria, Macedonia, and Thrace. Ptole- 
my, who is believed to have been the natural brother 
of Alexander, and who was one of his most intimate 
favorites, found himself, at the death of the conquer- 
or, master of Egypt. He was one of the finest cha- 
racters of these tempestuous times. Mild, humane, 
and wise, he encouraged the arts and sciences in 
Egypt, and consulted the happiness of the people. In 
the long quarrel for the succession to Alexander, his 
rivals could never make any impression' upon him, 
and he always had the address to keep the war out 
of Egypt. From the assistance which he gave to the 
people of Rhodes against Demetrius, he was called 
Soter, or Saviour. Ptolemy wrote an account of the 
campaigns of Alexander, which has been unhappily 
lost. This prince was the founder of the Ecryptian 
monarchy, and his family reigned for two hundred 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 6l 

and fifty years, ending in the person of the elegant 
Cleopatra, in the time o( Augustus Ceesar. 

Seleucus, one of the most meritorious captains of 
Alexander, established himself at Babylon, \\here, 
after many vicissitudes of fortune, he founded the 
em])ire of upper Asia, generally known by the name 
of the kingdom of Syria. He is the head of the Se- 
leucid?e, who reigned in the age of Pompey, when that 
general reduced their states into the form of a Roman 
province. Seleucus built Antioch, (which, for a long 
time, was considered the capital of the east,) Se- 
leucia, Laodicea, and nearly forty other cities. 

I.ysimachus, who took apart in all the troubles of the 
time, was cruel and avaricious. After the battle of Ip- 
sus, he took for his portion Thrace, Bythinia, &c. He 
seized upon Macedonia, where he reigned ten years 
and rendered himself odious. He was killed in Asia 
by Seleucus 282 years before Cluist. At his death 
his kinojdom was dismembered, which occasioned 
many calamities, and gave rise to new states, the 
whole of which, however, were eventually incorporat- 
ed with the Roman empire. 

Cassander, the son of Antipater, succeeded his 
father in the government of Macedonia, and was a 
conspicuous character in tlie conflicts of that day. — 
He made war upon Polysphercon, seized upon Athens, 
where he established Demetrius Pbaletrus, destroyed 
Olympias the mother of" Alexander, put to death liis 
wife Roxana and the children which Alexander had 
by her. Coming at length to the throne of Macedon 
by the force of his crimes, the battle of Ipsus fixed 
him there. He died in the year 297 before Jesus 
Christ, leaving, by a relative of Alexander, two sons, 
wOio perislied unhappily. In these last was extin- 
guislied the legitimate race of Philip ; of that Mace- 
donian hero, whose son, still greater than bis father 
F 



62 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

has filled the earth with his name, and seemed for & 
moment to give laws to the universe. Nearly forty 
years liad expired ; and of this fine lustre ot glory 
and of fortune ; of the employment of so much ge- 
nius, of labor, and oi victory, what remained ? Philip, 
Alexander, their wives, their children, perished by 
violent deaths ; their vast empire was no more; and 
the wrecks of it only served as aliment for the dis- 
cord of princes and for the misfortunes of the peo- 
ple. 

The historians who treat of Alexander are, among 
the ancients, Quintus Curius Rufus, who is admired 
for tlie elegance of his style, but is condemned for 
his anachronisms and geographical and historical mis- 
takes. His history was divided into ten books, of 
which the two first, the end of the fifth, and the be- 
ginning of the sixth, are lost : and Arrianus, a phi- 
losopher of Nicomedia, and priest of Ceres and Pro- 
serpine. He composed seven books upon the expe- 
dition of Alexander, and these are considered the 
most accurate in relation to this prince. Arrian was 
cotemporaneous with Marcus Aurelius. Among the 
modems, Rollin may be safely consulted. C. 



LETTER XI. 

IVie Romans, 

THE Romans having conquered and governed the 
world, their history includes that of almost all other 
states. In fact, the greater part of modern nations, 
their laws, their knowledge, their literature, and their 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 63 

moiniments, may be traced up directly to these mas» 
ters of the universe. The duration of the Roman 
power, or that of its history, embraces a period of 
about twelve centuries, fiom the foundation of Rome 
by Rornulus to the destruction of the western em- 
pire under Romulus Augustulus. Tliis immense in- 
terval may be divided into three grand and distinct 
epochs, that is to say, 1. The kings : 2. The Repub- 
lic : 3. The Emperors. 

Rome, under her kings, endured for the space of 
two hundred and forty-fuur years. In the year 753 
before Jesiis Christ, Ronmlus, at the head of a band 
of robbers, founded the city and established general 
rules of policy for the government of his adherents-. 
He w^as succeeded in 715 by Numa Pompilius, who 
instituted religious worship for his subjects. After 
him, in 672, reigned Tullus liostilius, who consoli- 
dated the work of his two predecessors. AncusMar- 
cius came to the throne in the year 640, and extend- 
ed the territory of Rome by his conquests. In 616 
Tarquin the elder w^as king, and embellished the 
city. To him, in the year 578, succeeded Serving 
Tullius, who created the Roman aristocracy, and by 
bis measures prepared the way for the republic. — • 
The seventh and last king was Tarquin the Proud, 
who was expelled, and on his expulsion royalty was 
abolished. 

The wars of the Romans, under their kings, were, 
that which took place in 750 against the Sabines, on 
account of the treacherous rape committed by the 
soldiers of Romulus on the w^omen of the latter, who 
had been invited to be spectators of some Roman 
sports, in tlie midst of wlijch they were seized and 
borne oft' by violence. The war was conducted on 
the part of the Romans by Romulus, and on that 
of the Sabines by Tatius, and ended in the union of 



(34 HISTORICAL LETTER'S. 

the two people. Tatius consented to come with his 
subjects and reside in Rome, where he shared the 
rojal authority with tlie founder of the city. The 
second war occurred in the year 667, under TuUus 
Hostiiius, against the people of Alba, which ended 
.in the destruction of the latter. It was in this war 
tliat the famous combat took place between three Ro- 
mans and three Albans, the Horatii and Curiatii, on 
TJie success of which victory depended. Two of the 
Horatii were killed in the encounter ; but the third, 
combining artitice with valor, slew the Curiatii one 
after anotli6r. The conqueror, returning home, was 
reproached by his sister for the murder of one the 
Curiatii, to whom she was engaged in marriage, where- 
upon he slew her; for which he was condemned to 
death by the Roman people ; but, in consideration of 
liis service:^ to the state, the punislnnent was com- 
muted to that of passing under the yoke. The third 
war of the Romans took place in the year 600 against 
their neighbors, under Tarquin the elder, in which 
many victories were gained, and the ceremony of the 
Tnumph was instituted. In the year 509 the war 
against Tarquin the Proud commenced, who had 
been compelled to leave the city on account of the 
rape of Lucretia by Sextus, the son of Tarquin.-— 
The story of the rape is briefly this : 

A number of young Roman noblemen were assem- 
bled at Ardea, among whom were Tarquinius Collati- 
nus and the son of Tarquin the Proud. Boasting of the 
domestic virtues of their wives, they resolved to leave 
the camp and go to Rome to verify to each other the 
praises which they had respectively lavished upon 
their ladies. Lucretia was the wife of CoUatinus, 
who had Ihe pleasure to find her, whilst the wives of 
the other Romans were involved in the riot and dis- 
•^ipation of a, feast, employed in the midst of her . fe- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 65 

male servants and assisting in their labors. Sextus 
was struck with tlie beauty and innocence of Liicre- 
tia, cherished his flame, and, afterwards withdrawing 
from the camp, went to her house ; where he was 
kindly received. He stole at night to her chamber, 
but the lady refused to his entreaties what he extort- 
ed from her by threats. She yielded to her ravisher 
when he threatened to murder her and to slay one of 
her slaves and put him in her bed, that this apparent 
adultery might seem to have met with the punisliment 
it deserved. Lucretia in the morning sent for lier 
husband and her father, revealed to them the indig- 
nity she had recei\ed, conjured them to avenge her 
wrongs, and stabbed herself with a dagger, which she 
bad concealed under her clothes. The body of the 
virtuous Lucretia was exposed to the view of the Se- 
nate, and a rebellion ensued, which was inflamed by 
the harangues of Brutus, vvho was present at the tragi- 
cal end of this noble lady. Tarquin M'as expelled ; his 
various attempts to regain the throne were ably re- 
sisted by Lucretius, Brutus, and Collatinus ; kingly 
government was extinguished ; and the republic \vas 
jPounded. 

Notwithstanding that the atrocious crime of Sextus 
was the immediate cause of this revolution, tlie truth 
is tliat the public mind at Rome had been long pre- 
pared for the event by the conduct of his father and 
of some other of the kings. The leading Republicans 
only waited for a pretext to abolish royalty, wliicli 
never fails, sooner or later, to become odious to a 
wise and spirited people. 

Rome, as a republic, endured for the space of about 
five hundred years. The history of this> period is ex- 
ceedingly interesting, and admits of two distinct di- 
visran«^ namely : that of foreign affairs, and tlmt of 
domestic occurrences. Always at war and always 
F 2 



66 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

victorious, the republic marched from success to sue* 
cess, invading countries, destroyiug nations, and sub- 
jugating people; till, in fine, she became mistress of 
the world, when she fell under the weight of her own 
power, and yielded herself a victim to the ambition 
of her generals. At home, two parties continually 
divided the republic : The PatricianSy who wished 
to retain all the power of the state in their own hands; 
and the Plebeians, who demanded and acquired, al- 
most ev^ry day, some new right. These pledges of 
their libei-ty increased until they eventually became, 
in the hands of cunning and able men, the instruments 
of their servitude. Thus Rome, by having conquer- 
ed too much, subdued herself; and the Romans, by 
increasing their liberty to licentiousness, fell into 
slavery. A striking example that all excesses ought 
to be avoided. 

The principal Dignities of Rome under the Republic. 

The Dictator was a magistrate supreme, sovereign, 
and absolute. There was no stated time for his elec- 
tion ; but he was chosen accidentally, in crises of 
great danger, and only for six months. His first act 
was to nominate for himself a first lieutenant, under 
the title of general of cavalry. All the authorities 
ceased on his nomination, except that of the tribunes. 
He named the ordinary consuls. The dictator was 
preceded by twenty-four lictors with the fasces : T. 
Latius Flavus was the first Dictator, in the year 498 
before Jesus Christ. The dignity ceased under 
Auo-iistus, who refused it. 

The consuls were the two first magistrates of the re- 
public. They were elected annually by the people ; 
conductj^d the armies ; presided in the Senate, and 



HISTORICAL LETTERS* 6T 

regulated the affairs of the republic : they were pre- 
ceded by twelve lictors. It is to the yearly election 
6f consuls that Montesquieu chieily attributes the 
glory and the triumphs of Rome. JL. Junius Brutus 
and L. Tarquinius Collatinus were the first consuls, 
in the year 508 before Jesus Christ. This dignity 
ceased under Justinian, who abolished it. 

The Censors were two magistrates, elected in 
the first instance for five years, but afterwards f(*r 
eighteen months only. Tiieir functions were, to 
enumerate the citizens and tlieir estates, and to be 
vigilant in the preservation of morals and the main- 
tenance of the laws. They purified the Senate by 
the expulsion of such members as had rendered them- 
selves unworthy of a seat tliere, and, in effect, cor- 
rected abuses of every kind among every class of 
citizens. The registers and public acts were in their 
keeping. L. Papirius Mugillanus and Sempronfus 
Atratinus were the first Censors, in the year 444 be- 
fore Jesus Christ. This dignity was merged in that 
of the emperors and their attributes. 

The Aidiles Major were two magistrates, to whom 
were intrusted the police of tlie city. They had a 
superintending authority over enteitainments and 
games ; were the inspectors of public buildings, and 
exercised vigilance for the safety of private ones. 
It was their duty to see that the highways were re- 
paired ; to regulate the standard of weights and 
measures ; to watch over the supplies of provisions 
necessary for the city, &c. &,c. They were called 
iGdiles major, to distinguish them from tliose magis- 
trates or the same name who were their assistants fop 
the inspection and execution of a good police. 

The Prsetors were two annual magistrates, whose 
functions were principally to administer justice. — 
pn^ of them had cognizance of differences between 



68 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

citizens, and was called Prcetor Urbanus ; the other 
had coo;nizance of diHerences between strangers, and 
was called Prcetor Peregrnnus, The Pr?etors, be- 
sides, pi esided at public lestivals, and took care of 
the sacrifices. Their office was the second dignity 
of Rome. Their number varied much towards the 
end of the republic and under the emperors. Some- 
times they continued in place after their year, and 
then they took the name of Pro-Praetors. 

These five magistrates, ol whom I have spoken, 
were called the major magistracy, or the magistracy 
CuruleSf because those who exercised the offices in 
question had the right to sit, during the performance 
of their functions, on a high seat of ivory, called the 
curule chair. 

Tiie Tribunes were magistrates of the people, 
charged to watch over their rights and liberty. They 
were ten in number, and were changed annually. — 
Tlieir power was very great, and if abused exceed- 
ingly dangerous. Their persons were inviolable and 
vSacred. Their ambitious attacks upon the Senate, 
and the resistance of the latter, furnish a key to all 
the intestine troubles which agitated Rome under the 
Republic. It cannot be doubted, however, that their 
authority, when virtuously exercised, was a great 
check upon the corruptions of the state. 

Tlie Qufestors were annual magistrates, intrusted 
with the public treasure. It was their duty also to 
receive ambassadors, kings, &c. and to make presents 
to them, &c. 

The Pro-Consuls were magistrates sent to govern 
the Roman provinces, with consular authority. 

Emperor, or ImperatoVt was, under the Republic, 
nothing more than an honorable and accidental de- 
nomination. After a victory the soldiers were ac- 
customed to salute their generals on the field of bat- 



HISTORICAL LETTEHS,> 6^ 

tie with the title of Imperator. In the end, after" 
the fall of the Republic, the word took the significa" 
tion of a sovereign chief and an absolute monarch, 

a 



LETTER XIL 

TJie Romans — Continued, 

During the space of five hundred years, the wars 
of the Republic were nunierous,and their consequen- 
ces advantageous and splendid. I proceed to relate 
them ; to mark the incidents which they produced ; 
to designate the great men who flourished during 
their prevalence, and to state their political results. 

The banished Tarquin found a supporter in Por- 
senna, the king of Etruria, and in the year 507 before 
Jesus Christ, war took place between hin\ and the 
Romans. Tiie chief events of this contest were, the 
actions of Horatius Codes, who singly opposed the 
whole army of Porsenna at the head of a biidge, 
whilst his countrymen in his rear were cutting off 
the communication with the opposite shore. The 
bridge being destroyed. Codes, although he was 
wounded, leaped into tiie Tiber and swam across it 
with his armor: for his eminent services he had a 
brazen statue raised to him in the temple of Vulcan, 
by the consul Publicola: of Mutius Scfevola, wlio 
disiruised himsei. in theliabit of a Tuscan, and, speak- 
ing the language fluently, he gained an easy introduc- 
tion into the camp of Porsenna, and afterwards into 
tlie royal tent ; Porsenna a?id his secretary were sit- 
ting alone when Mutius entered ; the latter, mistalc»« 



70 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

ing the secretary for the king, rushed upon him and 
stabbed him to the heart; unable to escape, Mutius 
was seized and brought before the king ; to the multi- 
plied inquiries of the courtiers he gave no answer, 
only telling them that he was a Roman ; and, as a 
proof of his fortitude, laid his right hand on an altar of 
burning coals, and looking sternly at the king, with- 
out uttering a groan, he boldly declared that three 
hundred young Romans like himself had conspired 
against his life, and entered his camp in disguise, 
determined either to destroy him or to perish in the 
attempt; this intrepid declaration alarmed Porsen- 
na, who made peace with the Romans and retired 
from their city; Mutius obtained the surname of 
Sceevola, because he had lost the use of his right hand 
by burning it in the presence of the Etrurian king: 
that of Clelia, a Roman virgin, one of the hostages 
which Porsenna had demanded as one of the condi- 
tions of the peace ; escaping fvom her guards, and 
pointing out the way to the rest of her female com- 
panions, she swam over the Tyber on horseback, 
amidst showers of darts from the enemy, and pre- 
sented herself to the Consul ; fearful of the conse- 
quenses of detaining her, the Consul sent her back, 
when Porsenna, not to be outdone in generosity, gave 
liberty to her, and permitted her to choose such of the 
hostages of the other sex ffor there were in all ten 
young men and ten virgins) as she should think fit to 
attend her ; she, with great modesty, chose the young- 
est, as least capable of sustaining the rigors of slave- 
ry: the battle of Regillee was another remarkable 
occurrence of this war ; it was fought about twenty 
miles from Rome, between twenty-four thousand 
Romans and forty thousand Etrurians, who were 
headed by the Tarquins ; the Romans obtained the 
victory, and scarce ten thousand of the enemy escap- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS, 71 

ed from the field of battle : the great men of the day 
Were Brutus, Collatiims, Aruns, Valerius, Publicola, 
and jLartius : the consequences of the war were the 
■abolition of royalty, the consolidation of the republic, 
and the establishment of the dictatorship. In the 
year 493 before Christ, civil broils broke out among 
the people, who revolted against the power of the 
aristocracy, and the Plebeians, under the conduct of 
one of their order, named Sicmius Bellutus, retired 
to Mons Sacer, on the banks of the river Anio, about 
three miles from Rome, with the intention of form- 
ing a new state. It was on this occasion, after all 
other arguments had failed, that Menenius Agrippa^ 
a great favorite of the people, addressed to them the 
well known fable of the belly and members, which is 
recorded by Livy : this had the desired eftect, and 
the Plebeians, on the consent of the Senate to the in- 
stitution of the tribunate, returned to their duty : tlie 
principal cause of these commotions was the debts 
of the commonalty, which were finally abolislied by 
the Senate : the chief personages of this period of 
anarchy were Appius and Menenius Agrippa. The 
revolt of Coriolanus occurred in the year before 
Christ 487; he fled to the Volscians, joined their 
leader Tullius Attius, advanced and besieged Rome, 
which was only saved from destruction by the prayers 
and tears of Veturia, the mother of Coriolanus, and 
the entreaties of his wife Volumnia, her two children, 
and a long train of weeping females ; Coriolanus, 
moved to compassion, raised the siege of Rome, and 
was afterwards slain in an insurrection of the Vols- 
cians, excited against him by Tullus, who had long 
envied his glory. In the year 476, the republic was 
engaged in a war with the Volsci, the ^qui, and 
other of their neighbors ; many fortunate battles took 
place, and the Romans enlarged their territory by 



rS inSTOllIOAL LETTERS. 

their conquests ; Menenius and Fabius were the he- 
roes of the day. In 448 the Decemvirs were expell- 
ed and the Decemvirate was abolished, in consef 
quence of an attempt by Appiiis to dishonor Virginia, 
the beautiful daughter of Viro;inius ; the maiden's 
honor was preserved by her father's stabbing lier in 
the presence of the people ; Appius killed himself, 
and his adherents were compelled to fly from the 
city. In 403, the Romans made war upon the Veians, 
. and after a siege of ten years made themselves mas- 
ters of the city of Veii : Camillus was the distin- 
guished personage of the time, and the republic ex- 
perienced considerable aggrandizement. In the year 
388 the Gauls invaded Italy, and took Rome, under 
the conduct, of Brennus ; the city was eventually 
regained by tlie intrepid courage ol Manlius, and 
the patriotic decision of Camillus: this war ended 
in the destruction of the invading Gauls. In 341 
the Romans waged war with the Samnites, which 
lasted nearly seventy-one years, procured for the re- 
public twenty-four triumphs, and Rome, by degrees, 
appjoached to the dominion of Italy ; Papirius, Pon- 
tius, and Curius, Were the principal characters that 
arose during these contests. In the year 279 the 
Tarentine war commenced, which endured for about 
ten years ; Pyrrhus and his minister Cyneas, and 
Fabricius and his remarkable virtue, are the objects 
worthy of notice in this conflict : Rome now became 
the mistress of all Italy. In 264 began the first Punic 
v/ar, and continued for twenty-four years, in which 
the Romans fought their first naval battle : this peri- 
od was marked by the defeat of Regulus ; and Duil- 
lias, Regulus, Xantippus, Lutatius, and Amilcar Bar- 
cas, on one side or the other, were the most remar- 
kable persons of the time ; the contest ended in the 
acquisition of Sicily by the Romans, who had now 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 73 

got a fleet and enjojetl additional celebrity. In 231 
the Iiljiian war occurred, in which Rome was, as 
usual, successful, having subdued and disgraced Teu- 
ta, the queen of Illjria ; the Romans were in this 
enterprise approaching Greece. In £26 the republic 
made war upon Cisalpine Gaul, during whicli was 
fought the battle of Clusium ; the Romans crossed 
the Po and subjugated the country. The second 
Punic war broke out in the year 219, and continued 
for seventeen years ; it was distinguished by tlie 
expedition of Hannibal, the siege of Syracuse, the 
fate of Archimedes, and the battle of Zama ; Fabius, 
Marcellus, Scipio Africanus the first, and Lelius, 
were the the chief men of the day ; the result of the 
contest was the destruction of Carthage and the 
acquisition of Spain. In 201, Rome carried her 
arms against Philip and the A^itolians, Perseus, and 
Antiochus, and the battles of Cynoceplialus, Ther- 
mopyl 86, Magnesia, and Pydna, were fought; Fla- 
minius Acilius, Scipio Asiaticus, Paulus Emilius, 
and Licinius,made a great figure in these w^ars, which 
ended in the Romans conquering Macedonia and 
penetrating into Asia. The third Punic war began 
in 149, and continued for three years ; it eventuated 
in the siege and capture of Carthage ; Rome was left 
without a rival : the shining personages of this peri- 
od were Scipio Africanus the second, Lelius, Poly- 
bius, and Cato the Censor. Tiie Achaean war com- 
menced in the year 147, in which Metellus and Mum- 
mius distinguished themselves. Corinth was de- 
stroyed and Greece was conquered by the Romans. 
In the year 141, the republic was engaged in the 
Numantian war, which continued for eight years, 
and in which Scipio Africanus tl^e second was the 
principal actor ; it ended in the destruction of Nu- 
mantia. In 133 Rome experienced great civil trou- 
G 



74 HISTORICAL LETTERS, 

bles, the question of tile Agrarian law was agitated ; 
the Gracchii and Scipio Nasica were the great men 
of the time ; the commotions ended in the massa;v 
ere of the Gracchii. In the year 113 the Romans 
waged war against Jugurtha for thei space of seven 
years ; it was marked by the success of Metellus ; 
and Marius, Sylla, and Bocchus, were persons of 
note durins: its continuance; it concluded in the 
conquest of Numidia. A seven years war next en- 
sued between the Romans and the Cimbri, in which 
Marius, Catullus, and Sylla, rendered themselves 
conspicuous; the Cimbri were totally vanquished. — 
In the year 91, before Christ, the allies of '-.ome re- 
volted against her, and for three years a social war 
raged with fury ; Drusus, Marius, Sylla, Pompey, 
all tlistinguished themselves on the occasion ; the 
war ended in the allies becoming citizens of Rome. 
In the year 88, a civil war broke out between Marius 
and Sylla, which endured for thirteen years ; the most 
frightful proscriptions took place during this period, 
and Sylla was made perpetual dictator ; Sylla, Ma- 
rius, and his sons, Cinna, Sertorius, and Perpenna, 
were leading men of the day: this is the real epoch 
of the fall of the republic. In the year 88 also a war 
was undertaken against Mithridates, which was not 
terminated for twenty-six years : during this con- 
flict Athens was taken by the Roman arms, and the 
battles of Cheronea and Orchomenus were fought : 
the chief characters of this period were Sylla, Lu- 
cullus, Pompey, Tigranes, Pharnaces, and Monimia : 
the war ended in the conquest of Pontus, Cappadocia, 
and Syria. The year 73, and the years immediately 
following, before Christ, were rendered remarka^ble 
in the annals of Rome by the revolt of the slaves, the 
exploits of Spartacus, and the achievements of Cras- 
sus and Pompey ; in this contest the slaves were ex- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS, To 



terminated. In the year 63 the conspiracy ofCata- 
line took place, in which extteniity Cicero acquitted 
himself with great ability, and saved Rome from ihe 
lawless designs of the conspirators ; Cicero, Cataline, 
C?esar, and Clodius, were the most extraordinary in- 
dividuals of the time. In the year 60 the first tri- 
umvirate was formed between Pompey, Cgesar, and 
Crassus; Ceesar, hov/ever, ti-iumphed over his rivals 
in the battles of Pharsalia, of Thapsus, and oi Munda, 
and remained sole master of Rome. A second tri- 
umviiate was formed after the death of C?esar,in the 
year before Christ 43, between Antony, Lepidus, and 
Octavius ; innumerable proscriptions took place dur- 
ing this period, to which Cicero fell a victim ; the 
battles of Philippi and Actium were fought, and 
young Octavius, after subduing all his opponents, 
reigned sole arbiter of the Roman world. He assum- 
ed the name of Augustus, and proved himself a states- 
man of great capacity. C. 



LETTER XIIL 

Tke Romans — Continued, 

DURING the five centuries that Rome was go- 
verned by the emperors, she was engaged in tliree 
wars oi' a general cfescription. 1. The wars of Europe, 
against the nations of Germany, upon the Rhine and 
the Danube : 2. The wars of Asia, against the Par- 
thians ahd the Persians, upon the Euphrates and the 
■Tigris ; 3. The civil wars occasioned by the ambi- 
tion of particular persons, and the Ucentiousnesg of 



?b HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

tlie soldiery. In the wai's of Europe Drusus pushed 
the Roman anus as far as the Elbe, where he erected 
a trophy ; Varus, with three legions, was massacred 
by Arniinius, a warlike general of the Germans ; but 
Germanicus, in two great battles, repaired this terri- 
ble misfortune, and Arminius was poisoned by one of 
his friends: Trajan conquered and united Dacia to 
the empire : Marcus Aurelius executed a famous ex- 
pedition against the Marcomanni : Maximinus pene- 
trated into the heart of Germany: Aurelius was con- 
vstrained to abandon Dacia : the Barbarians passed 
the Danube and tiie Rhine, inundated the empire, 
overturned it, and established themselves upon its 
ruins. In the wars of Asia, Trajan undertook his 
famous expedition against the Partliians, and acquir- 
ed immense territories, which were abandoned by his 
successor Adrian : Mesopotamia was added to the 
empire by Severus and Caracalla: v,ar was main- 
tained against Artaxerxes and Sapor, kings of Persia : 
the emperor Valerian was made prisoner by Sapor : 
the history of these Asiatic wars also embraces the 
interesting fate of Odenatus and Zenobia, the queen 
cf Palmyra : a treaty was concluded under the em- 
peror Dioclesian : Sapor the second, a terrible enemy 
of the Romans, reigned in this period ; and Julian, 
the Apostate, undertook his celebrated expedition 
against Persia, in which he lost his life and liazarded 
that quarter of the empire : Jovian, the successor of 
Julian, was compelled to abandon Mesopotamia. — 
The revolts and civil wars of the Roman imperial 
history are of too complex a nature to be delineated 
in tlie space allotted to these letters : the reader will 
find them satisHictorily pourtrayed in the celebrated 
work of Gibbon. 

The empire of Rome was above two thousand 
miles in breadth, from the wall of Antoninus and 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. / / 

the northern limits of Dacia, to Mount Atlas and the 
Tropic of Cancer, and extended in length more than 
three thousand miles, from the Western Ocean to the 
Euphrates : It was situated in the finest part of the 
temperate zone, between the twenty-fourth and fifty- 
sixth degrees of northern latitude ,and is supposed to 
have contained above sixteen hundred thousand 
square miles, for the most part of fertile and well cul- 
tivated land. It comprised nine provinces : 

1, Britain : Subdivided into Britain the first, Bri- 
tain the second, Fhavian-Cesarian, Great-Cesarian, 
and Valentinian. The principal cities were York, 
London, Colchester, Bath, Lincoln, Chester, Glou- 
cester, &c. The natives consisted of tribes of Bri- 
tons; among which were reckoned as many as twenty- 
two settlements, the inhabitants of wliich resembled 
the people of Gaul or of Germany ; their origin is 
not fully ascertained, but it is believed to have been 
Celtic : the Druids were their priests. The Romans 
who conquered or united Britain to the empire, were 
Julius C?esar, wlio first invaded it fifty-five years be- 
fore Jesus Christ : Plantius, under the emperor Clau- 
dius, and after himOstorius Scapula advanced a con- 
siderable way in the subjugation of the Island ; they 
both had to contend with the brave Caractacus ; Juli- 
us Agricola completed the conquest of it. When the 
Romans, in the decline of their empire, withdrew 
their legions from Britain, it was invaded by the 
Saxons and the Angles, who were called in by the 
natives to defend them from their neighbors the Picts 
and the Scots ; but the invaders conquered for them- 
selves : the Danes desolated the country for some 
time, and finally established themselves there. The 
present inhabitants are the English. 

2. Gaul : Subdivided into Narbonnese, Aquitaine, 
Lyonnese, Belgic, and Germanic ; and many other 

G 2 



TS HISTORIC At LETTiERS, 

inferior divisions. The principal cities were Mar- 
seilles, Narbonne, Nimes, Lyons, Toulouse, Autun, 
Bordeaux, Rheims, Treves, Mayence, Cologne, &c. 
Gibbon reckons twelve hundred. The natives were 
tribes of Gauls, of which there were one hundred 
and fifty. They spoke the Celtic and followed the 
religion of the Druids, one class of whom, under the 
name of Bards, consecrated by their songs the actions 
of their heroes. The Romans who subdued the coun- 
try, were Sextus Calvinius, who established himself 
there, and founded the village of Aix, in Provence, 
120 years before Jesus Christ; Domitiiis and Fabius 
reduced into a Roman province all the meridional 
part of the country, and Julius C?esar united it to 
the empire as far as the Rhine. The Barbarians who 
invaded Gaul, were the Francs, who fixed themselves 
there ; the Burgundians, who yielded to the Francs ; 
the Visigoths, the Allemanni, the Huns, the Suevi, 
the Alains, the Vandals, who marched through the 
country ; the Normans, and the Saracens, who were 
driven back. The present inliabitants of ancient 
Gaul are the French and the Swiss. 

3. Itah.j : Subdivided into Cisalpine Gaul, Liguria, 
Etruria, Latium, Campania, Apulia, Lucania, and 
Brutium. The principal cities were Rome, Milan, 
Verona, Aquileia, Ravenna, &c. Gibbon reckons ele- 
ven hundred and ninety seven. The natives of Italy 
were the Etruscans, the Sabines, the Latins, the Ru- 
tulians, the Volscians, the Hernians, the Equians, 
the Samnites, and the Tarentines. The conquerors 
of the country were, the kings, the consuls, and the 
dictators, during the first 500 years of Rome ; for it 
took tliat period of time for the Romans to become 
masters of Italy. The Barbarians who invaded it 
were the Vandals, the Suevi, the Huns, and the Visi- 
goths, who traversed and desolated it ; the Heruli- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. ^9 

ans, the Ostrogoths, and the Lombards, who establish- 
ed themselves in the country. Tlie present inhabi- 
tants are, the Italians, the Genoese, the Romans, the 
Tuscans, Neapolitans, &c. 

4. Spain : Subdivided into Tarraconensis, Lusita- 
nia, and Bo3tica. The principal cities were, Cadiz, 
Carthagena, Saguntum,Numantia; and Italica, found- 
ed by Scipio, afterwards the birth place of the em- 
perors Trajan, Adrian, and Theodosius. The natives 
were numerous and diversified tribes of Celtiberians, 
Cantabrians, Vascones, Callaians, Asturians, Lusita- 
nians, &c. The Romans who reduced Spain into 
the form of a province, were Scipio Africanus the 
first, who, by his victories, opened the way for the 
Roman power : F. Flaccus and S. Gracchus subdued 
the Celtiberians ; Scipio Africanus the second, con- 
quered Numantia; and Augustus subjugated the 
Cantabrians. The Barbarians who inva<ied Spain, 
were the Alains and the Suevi, w^ho established them- 
selves there ; they were destroyed by the Visigoths, 
who yielded in their turn to the Moors or Saracens. 
The Vandals merely passed through tlie country, 
without making any stay. The present inhabitants* 
©f ancient Spain, are the Spaniards and the Portu- 
guese. 

5. Illyria: Subdivided into Rhaetia, Noricum, 
Pannonia, Dalmatia, Dacia, Mcesia, Thrace, Mace- 
donia, and Greece. The principal cities were Adri- 
anople, Byzantium, (since Constantinople,) Athens, 
&:c. The natives were many tribes of Germans, the 
Barbarians of Dalmatia, Thrace, Dacia, &,c. as also 
the Macedonians and the Greeks. The Romans who 
assisted in forming Illyria into a province, were Pau- 
lus Emilius, who subdued Macedonia ; Metellus and 
Mummius, who reduced Greece ; Tiberius, who con- 
quered a part of Illyria proper, &c. and Trajan, wh« 



80 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

acquired Dacia. The Barbarians who invaded it, 
were the Huns, the Alains, the Visigoths, the Ostro- 
goths, the Gepides, the Lombards, the Avares, &c. 
The present inhabitants are, the Bavarians, tlie Aus- 
trians, the Hungarians, the Dalmatians, the Greeks, 
the Turks, &lc. 

6. »Rsla Minor : Subdivided into Asia Minor Pro- 
per, Eythinia, Cilicia, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Me- 
sopotamia. The principal cities were TNicomedia,Per- 
gamus, Smyrna, Laodicea, Ephesus, Miletus, Troy, 
Heraclea, and Sardis. The natives were the Trojans, 
the Lydians, tlie Phrygians, the Persians, and in gene- 
ral tlie fragments of the ancient Assyrian, Median, 
and Babylonian population The Romans who secured 
this province to the empire, were vScipio Asiaticus, 
who subdued it as far as Mount Taurus ; Attains 
and Prusias bequeathed to Rome Pergamus and By- 
thinia; Sylla,Lucullus, and Pompey, subjugated Pon- 
tus, Cappadocia, and Armenia. The Barbarians who 
invaded Asia Minor, were the Saracens, the Tartars, 
the Turks, and, in general, all those Barbarians who 
came from the eastern parts of Asia. The prese^it 
inhabitants are Turks. 

7. Si/ria: Subdivided into Syria proper, Phceni- 
cia, and Palestine. The principal cities were, Anti- 
och, Damascus, Jerusalem, Palmyra, &c. The na- 
tives were, the Syrians, tlie Tyrians, the Phoenicians, 
the Jews or Hebrews, &c. Tlie Romans who united 
it to the empire, were Pompey, who put an end to 
the kingdom of Syria ; and Vespasian and Titus, who 
reduced the Jews. The Barbarians who invaded it 
were the Saracens, the Turks, &c. The present in- 
habitants are Turks. 

8. Egypt : The Romans subdivided this province 
into a great number of districts. The principal cities 
were Alexandria, Berenice, Syene, Thebes, Copto^j 



HISTORICAL LETTERS, 81 

&c. The natives were the Egyptians, a people among 
the most ancient, and the first who cultivated the 
sciences. Pompey and C?esar, one after the other, 
had Egypt at their disposal ; and Octavius (after- 
wards Augustus) reduced it into the form of a Roman 
province. The Barbarians who invaded it v/ere the 
Saracens, the Turks, &c. The preseiit inhabitants 
are the Turks, the Mamelukes, the Copts, the Arabs, 
&c. 

9. Africa: Subdivided into Lybia, Africa Proper, 
Numidia, and Mauritania. The principal cities were, 
Tingis, Cesarea, Hippo, Utica, Carthage, Cyrene, 
&c. Gibbon reckonsthree hundred in all. The na- 
tives were' the Lybians, the Africans, the Carthage- 
nians, the Numidians, (esteemed the best horsemen 
of their time,) the Mp^uritanians, &c. The Romans 
who subjugated Africa were, Scipio Africanus the 
second, who destroyed Gartliage ; Metellus, Marius, 
Sjdla, and Csesar ; and Appian bequeathed his king- 
dom of Cyrene. This province was invaded by the 
Saracens and tlie Turks, The present inhabitants 
are, the Moors, the Algerines, the Tunisians, the Tri- 
poHtans, and the Turks. 

The total number of subjects v/ho acknowledged 
the laws of Rome, of citizens, or provincials, and of 
slaves, from the imperfect calculation that can now 
be made, would rise to about one hundred and twen- 
ty millions of persons." It forms the most numerous 
society that has ever been united under the same 
system of government. 

The constitution of the military force with which 
the Romans achieved and maintained their conquests, 
deserves some notice. I shall take the description 
of the imperal in preference to that of the republican 
legion, because discipline may well be supposed to 
have reached its highest point of perfection in the 



8£ HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

time of the emperors. The heavy armed infantrj , 
whicli composed the principal streiigtii of the legion, 
was divided into ten cohorts, and iiitj-ilve compa- 
nies, under the orders of a corresponding number of 
tribunes and centurions. The first cohort, Vi/hich 
always claimed tlie post of honor and the custody of 
the eagle, was formed of one thousand one hundred 
and live soldiers, the most approved for valor and 
fidelity: the remaining nine cohorts consisted each 
of five hundred and fifty-five, and the whole body of 
legionary infantry amounted to six thousand one hun- 
dred men ; their arms were an open helmet wirii a 
lofty crest ; a breast-plate or coat of mail ; greaves 
on their legs, and an ample buckler on their left arm: 
the buckler was of an oblong and concave figure, 
four t'eet m length and two and an half in breadth, 
framed of a light wood covered with a bull's hide, 
and strongly guarded with p'ates of brass. Besides 
a light spear, the legionary soldier grasped in his 
riglit hand the /?//?£?», a ponderous javelin, whose ut- 
most length v;as about six feet, and which was ter- 
minated by a massy triangular point of steel of 
eighteen inches : this instrument, however, wah ex- 
hausted by a single discharge, at the distance of only 
ten or twelve paces. Launched by a firm and skil- 
ful hand, no cavalry durst venture within its reach, 
nor could any shield or corslet sustain the impetuosi- 
ty of its weight: when the pUum v.'as discharged, 
the Roman soldier drew hib sword and closed with 
his enemy ; his sword was a sliort well-tempered 
Spanish bhide, with a double edge, suited alike to the 
purpose of striking or of pushing. The legion was 
usually drawn up eight deep, and the regular dis- 
tance of three feet was left between the files as well 
as ranks. The Macedonian phalanx was not a match 
for the Roman legion. The strength of the phalanx 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 85 

depended on sixteen ranks of loug pikes, wedged to- 
gether lu the closest array; but the compactiv?.-. of 
this body yielded to the activity of the iegiou, to 
wliici; was added the cavalry, divided into ten troops 
or squadrons ; the first, as the companion of the first 
cohort, consisted of one hundred and thirty-two men, 
whilst each of tlie other nine amounted only to sixty- 
six. The entire establishment formed a regiment of 
seven hundred and twenty-six horse, connected with 
its respective legion, but occasionally separated to 
act in the line, and to compose a part of the wings of 
tiie army. The horses were bred, for the most part, 
in Spain or Cappadocia, and the arms of the troops 
consisted in a helmet, an oblong shield, light boots, 
and a coat of mail : a javelin and a long broad sword 
were their principal weapons O) offence. The legions 
had, besides, each a portion of auxiliaries, levied in the 
provinces, who retained their native arms, consisting 
of missile weapons, and such others as the Barbarians 
used. V/ith the legion, also, was connected a train 
of artillery, consisting of ten military engines of the 
largest, and fiity-five o: a smaller, size ; but all of 
which, either in an oblique or horizontal manner, dis- 
charged stones and darts with irresistible violence. 
The form of a Roman camp was that of an exact 
quadrangle, and a square of about seven hundred 
yards was sufficient for the encampment of twenty 
thousand Romans ; in the midst of the camp, the 
prfetorium, or general's quarters, rose above the 
others ; the cavalry, the infantry, and the auxiliaries, 
occupied their respective stations ; the streets were 
broad and perfectly straight, and a vacant space of 
two hundred feet was left on all sides, between the 
tents and tlie ramparts : the rampart itself was usu- 
ally twelve feet high, armed with a Vnm of strong and 
intricate pallisades, and defended by a ditch of twelve 



64 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

feet in depth as well as in breadth. This important 
labor was performed by the hands of the legionaiies 
themselves, to whom the use of the spade and the pick- 
axe was no less familiar than that of the s>'. ord or pi- 
lum. Besides their arms, the legionaries, when march- 
ing, were laden with their kitchen furniture, the in- 
strjments of fortification, and the provision of many 
days : under this weight they were trained by a re- 
gular step to advance, in about six hours, near twen- 
ty miles. On the appearance of an enemy they threw 
aside their baggage, and by easy and rapid evolutions 
converted the column of march into an order of bat- 
tle : the slingers and archers skirmished in the front ; 
the auxiliaries formed the first line, and were second- 
ed or sustained by the strength of the legions; the 
cavahy covered the flanks, and the military engines 
were placed in the rear. 

In tlie time of the Antonines, the military peace 
establishment of the empire consisted of thirty le- 
gions, composed of twelve thousand five hundred 
men eacli, making a total standing force of three 
hundred and seventy-five thousand men, to which 
add the Pr?etorian bands, computed at twenty thou- 
sand, and the marine forces, reckoned at about fifty- 
five thousand, and we have a total of four liundred 
and fifty thousand men. The tliirty legions were 
distributed as follows : three in Britain; five upon 
the Rhine; eleven upon the Danube; eight upon the 
Euphrates ; one in Egypt ; one in Africa ; and one 
in Spain. The legions were encamped on the banks 
of the great rivers, and along the frontiers of the Bar- 
barians. The city cohorts and Prpetori an guards watch- 
ed over the safety of tlie monarch and the capital. Two 
permanent fleets were stationed in the most conve- 
nient ports of Italy, tlie one at Ravenna, on the Adri- 
atic, the other at Misenum, in the bay of Naples.— 



HISTORICAL LETTERS, 85 

Besides these two ports, a very considerable force was 
stationed at Frejus, on the coast of Provence, and the 
Euxine was guarded by forty ships and three thousand 
soldiers. To all these add the tleet which preserved 
the communication between Gaul and Britain, and a 
great number of vessels constantly maintained on the 
Rhine and the Danube, to harrass the country or to 
intercept the passage of the Barbarians. It is estis 
mated that the general annual income of the Roman 
provinces could seldom amount to less than fifteen 
or twenty millions sterling, or from sixty to eighty 
millions of dollars. For the details of these interest- 
ing topics, I refer the reader to the very excellent 
work of Mr. Gibbon. " C. 



LETTER XIV. 

The Romans — Continued, 

THE invasion of the Barbarians who overthrew 
the Roman empire, presents one of the most impor- 
tant points of historical study; at the same time it 
is the most obscure and the most difficult to be re- 
tained in the memory. It is scarcely possible to fol- 
low, with precision, by the aid of words alone, this 
scene of confusion and disorder. I nmst, never- 
tlieless, attempt to pourtray it; for the various 
jiordes who overran the empire of the Cgesars are the 
elements of which the nations of modern Europe, of 
Asia Minor, and part oi Africa, are composed. 

The Huns came from the frontiers ot China, and 
their principal chiefs were the celebrated Attila and 
H 



86 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Bleda. They invaded Illyria, Gaul, and Asia ; beat 
and displaced the Alains, dissipated the monarchy of 
the Goths, established to the nortli of the Danube by 
old Hermanrick,and determined those violent move- 
ments of the Barbarians which produced the fall of 
the empire of the Romans. Under the guidance of 
Attila, the Huns founded an immense empire from 
the Danube to the Baltic, and from the borders of 
the Rhine to the shores of the eastern ocean. This 
prince, to whom the affrighted world gave the name 
of Scourge of God, invaded Gaul with seven hun- 
dred thousand men, and was completely defeated in 
451, in the plains of Chalons, or in those of Sologne, 
near Orleans, by Actius,the Roman general, second- 
ed by the Franks, conducted by Merovius, and by 
the Visigoths, commanded by Theodoric. It is com- 
puted that Attila lost in this battle three hundred 
thousand men; but this did not prevent him from 
making, in tlie following year, a new irruption into 
Italy, and penetrating as far as Rome, where peace 
and his retreat were purchased by a large sum o1 mo- 
ney, Attila returned, laden with booty, to his royal 
village in Pannonia, where he died, a. d. 453, of 
an uncommon eftusion of blood the first night of his 
miptials. His soldiers enclosed his body in a coffin 
of gold, which they again enclosed in a coffin of silver, 
which was placed in a coffin of lead, conveyed the 
wliole to a wild and solitary place, caused a grave to 
be prepared by slaves, and put to death their assist- 
ants, in order that the place of sepulture might re- 
main a secret. After the death of Attila his empire 
was dissolved, and the Huns became mixed and lost 
among the different hordes which they had subjugat- 
ed. They made their appearance a. d. 375, and fin- 
ished their career about 460. 



inSTORIOAL LETTERS. 67 

The Goths, who invaded Dacia, Iliyria, &c. had 
for their principal leaders Herinanrick and Athana- 
ric. The name of Goths is a common name for ma- 
ny hordes of Barbarians arising from the same stock ; 
such, in particular, were the Visigoths, the Ostro- 
goths, and Gepides. It is said they were originally 
irom Sweden, where are still to be found the pro- 
vinces of Gothia and Ostrogothia. So early as the 
year of our Lord 250, this people were established 
on the banks of the Neister, and at that time began 
to direct the most terrible blows at the Roman pow- 
er. The emperor Decius and his Son perished in 
battle against them. Hermanrick, the hero of this 
nation, by,a very singular destinv, became a con- 
queror at eighty years of age. It was at this age, 
when others tliink of quitting life, that he commenced 
the foundation of a monarchy, which he pushed, by 
his conquests, from the shores of the Danube to those 
of the frozen ocean. He lived to be one hundred 
and ten years of age, and perished unexpectedly, 
with the empire which he had formed, a victmi to tHe 
sudden iri'uption and good fortune of the Huns, who, 
at the first onset, ravished from him his life and over- 
turned his throna. 

The Visigoths, a branch of the Goths, from the 
southern parts of Sweden, had for their leaders Fri- 
tigern and the celebrated Alaric, and invaded Italy, 
Gaul, and Spain* Defeated and pursued by the Huns, 
they obtained permission from the court of Constan- 
tinople to pass the Danube and to establish them- 
selves in Thrace. They afterwards turned their 
arms against those who had granted them this indul- 
gence, and A. D. 378 exterminated i:t\e emperor Valens 
and his army under the w*alls of Adrianople. The 
emperor Theodosiusthe Great subdued and restrain- 
ed them during his reign, but at his death they revolt- 



88 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

ed anew, under the conduct of the famous Alaric, deso- 
lated all the Illyrian provinces, those of Italy, took 
and pillaged Rome, passed the Alps, and established 
themselves in the southern parts of Gaul, forty-three 
years after their passage of the Danube. Afterwards, 
crossing the Pyrennees, they fixed the seat of their 
empire in Spain, upon the ruins, or in the traces, of 
the Alains, the Suevi, and the Vandals, and they 
reigned nearly three hundred years, at the end of 
which tliey were destroyed in their turn by the Sa- 
racens, who came Irom Africa. Alaiic died at Co- 
zenza, in the South of Italy : his army turned the 
course of a river in order to deposite his corpse, and 
afterwards restored it to its usual channel. This 
people attached great importance to the concealment 
of the remains of their great chiefs from the observa- 
tion of mankind. The career of the Visigoths com- 
menced A. B. 376 and ended 712. 

The Ostrogoths, also a branch of the Goths, from 
the South of Sweden, invaded Illyria and Italy, and 
had for their principal chief Theodoric. Conquered, 
in the first instance, by the Huns, the Ostrogoths re- 
covered their independence on the death of Attila, 
and" followed the track of the Visigoths, who had pre- 
ceded them : they traversed the Danube and establish- 
ed themselves in Mcesia. Theodoric the Great, the 
hero of the nation, raised at first in the character of a 
hostage at the court of Constantinople, rendered con- 
siderable services to the emperor Zeno, who adopted 
him as his son, granted him the honors of a triumph, 
and permitted him to proceed into Italy, to oppose 
Odoacer, king of the Ilerulians, who came to put an 
end to the empire of the west. Theodoric, victorious, 
became the founder of a new monarchy, which was 
^strengthened by his laws and flourished under his 
careful vigilance. The celebrated Cassiodorus, dis- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 89 

tiiiguished for his knowledge and capacity, was the 
minister of Theodoric. The Ostrogoths were de- 
stroyed, eighty years after the foundation of their 
empire, by Narses, a general under Justinian, empe- 
ror of t!ic East. Jor::andes, who lived in the sixth 
century, and was at first royal secretary, and after- 
wards bishop of Ravenna, is the historian of the Os- 
trogoths. They were remarkable on the revolution- 
ary theatre of these tempestuous times, from a. d. 
4G0 to 553. 

The Lombards originally emigrated from tlie 
shores of tiie Baltic, invaded Illyria and Italy, and 
had Alboin for their principal chief. In their marcli 
towards the south they destroyed the Ilerulians, and 
WTre established in Pannonia by the emperor Justi- 
nian, wlio conceived the project of opposing them to 
the Gepides. In truth, these two people v/ere not 
slow in seeking a quarrel, and the Lombards entirely 
exterminated the Gepidas. Itivited afterwards by 
the eunuch Narses, (who had cause to compLiin ot 
Justinian and the empress Sophiu,) they penetrated 
into Italy under the conduct of their chief Alboin, 
who was prochiimed king by his soldiers after thf» 
capture oiPavia, of Milan,. &c. The monarchy of 
the Lombards, which comprised nearly the whole of 
the north of Italy, endured for almost two hundred 
years, and was overturned by Chiiilenuigne, under 
Didier, tlielr last king. The history of this monar- 
chy furnishes a collection of curious laws and custom?^ 
relative to the times in which they prevailed, par- 
ticularly upon the article of fiefs and feudal customs^ 
wliereof many authors allege the I^ombards to have 
been the authors. The commencement and end of 
the Lombards was from the year of our Lord 568 to 
774, 



II 3 



90 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

The Mains came from the borders of the Caspian 
sea, and invaded Gaul and Spain. Thej had for 
their principal chiefs Respendial and Gonderic. Es- 
tablished beyond the Tanais, and dislodged by the 
Huns, they at first settled in Pannonia, but soon af- 
terwards united with a numerous horde conducted 
by Radagaisus. Such as escaped from the defeat 
which these experienced in Italy, crossed the Rhine 
and turned towards Gaul, over wiiich they travelled 
and penetrated beyond the Pyrennees into Spain, in 
the eastern parts whereof they established themselves. 
Soon afterwards they experienced a defeat, and their 
existence and their name disappeared before the Vi- 
sigoths, their vanquishers, who came from Gaul under 
the guidance of Wallia, their leader. The Alains 
were the most cruel and the most sanguinary of all 
fae hordes of that deluge of Barbarians who, about 
the fifth century, inundated the civilized world. — 
The period of their carreer was from the year of our 
Lord 376 to 417. 

The Burgimdians, the Suevi^ and the Vandals, 
left their native land, the shores of the Baltic sea, 
at the commencement of tlie fifth century, and di- 
recting their course towards the south, they recruit- 
ed in their march the Alains, climbed the Alps and 
poured down upon Italy, where they divided into 
two bodies; tlie one ravaged the banks of the Po, 
v.'hilst the other, conducted by the famous Radagai- 
sus, who is represented to us as a plienomenon ol size 
and strength, directed itself towards Florence, of 
which it formed tlie siege. This unfortunute city 
was menaced with an approaching fall, when the 
celebrated Roman general Stilicho came to its relief, 
which he effected by a prodigious victory in which 
perished Radagaisus and almost all his numerous 
follower*. The body of Barbarians who remained 



HISTORICAL LETTERS, 91 

behind, then retired into Germany, wandering about 
at random: some deserters gave them information 
concerning the Gauls, with whom, until that time, they 
were unacquainted : they immediately directed them- 
selves towards the Rhine, and marched to pillage these 
new regions. The Burgundians settled themselves 
in the eastern part of Gaul, where they founded a 
kingdom adjacent to that of the Franks, under whom 
they fell at the end of about a century. Gundicar 
was the principal chief of the Burgundians. — 
Comband, or Gondeband^ issued a general and cele- 
brated edict, comprising a collection of their laws 
and customs : it is this precious piece which historians 
commonly call " laloy Goinbette." The Burgundians 
commenced a. d. 413 and ended in 536. The Van- 
dals traversed Gaul and penetrated into Spain, fix- 
ing themselves at first in the southern parts ; but 
soon afterwards, crossing the straits, they arrived in 
Africa, ravaged the Roman provinces, founded a king- 
dom upon the ruins of Carthage, embarked for Italy, 
took Rome by assault, and avenged the Carthageni- 
ans at the end of six hundred years. The Vandals, 
who because proverbial for their rage for devastation, 
returned to Africa, and continued a monarchy which 
was destroyed after about one hundred years dura- 
tion, by the renowned Bellisarius, one of the gene- 
. rals of the emperor Justinian. The Vandals com- 
menced A. D 409 and ended in 534. Their princi- 
pal chief was Genseric. The Suevi invaded Spain in 
concert with the Alains and the Vandals, their rov- 
ing companions, and establishing themselves in the 
western parts, founded a monarchy which was over- 
thrown by the Visigoths one hundred and eighty 
years afterwards. Their principal leader was Her- 
momrick. Of all the Barbarian people who isvaded 
the Roman empire, the Suevi are, perhaps, a horde 



92 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

respecting which history is the most silent. Thej 
commenced a. d. 409 and finished in 58*2. 

The Franks came from the shores of the Rhine 
nnd of the Weser, and had for their |^ rincipal chiefs 
Pharamond and Clovis. The prevailing opinion con- 
cerning this people is, that they were a confederation 
of many German tribes, situated between the Rhine 
and the Weser, who united against the Romans for 
the preservation of their common independence. — 
After a long time and numerous combats witli the 
Romans, they finally effected a settlement on the 
left bank of the Rhine, to which they even obtained 
the consent of tlie emperors of the west, and by de- 
grees they advanced into Gaul under favor of the 
troubles which hastened the decline of the empire. — 
The commencement of tlieir history and the epoch 
of the foundation of the French nmnarchy, are, in 
general, dated in the reign of Pharamond, one of 
their chiefs, about the year of our Lord 42i). Clovis, 
one of his successors, conquered the greater part of 
GauU was the hero of his race, and ought to be re- 
garded as the true founder of the monarcliy. It may 
not, perhaps, be imperlinent to remark, that of all thti 
Barbarians v/ho invaded the Roman empire, (Im) 
Franks and the Angles are the oidy people who have 
survived the revolutions of time, and prolonged to 
our day their existence and their names. 

The AngloSaxotifi came originally from the bor- 
ders of the Elbe, and had for their principal chiefs 
Hengistand Horsa. Having been called in by the 
Britons to defend them against the Picts and Scots,, 
they landed in Britain under the conduct of these 
two brothers, who eventually conquered the country 
w^ith the aid of numerous other adventurers who spee- 
dily followed. After this 8axon conquest the coun- 
try was divided into seven different kingdoms, which 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 93 

was called the Heptarchy. In the course of time 
these seven kingdoms were united, by inheritance or 
by subjugation, in the person of Egbert, who com- 
menced the English monarchy, which has continued 
to our days. George the Third, now on the throne, 
is the descendant and lineal successor of this Egbert, 
from whom he is separated by fifty sovereigns and 
thirty generations. The Anglo-Saxon career began 
A. D. 450. 

The Saracens came from Arabia, and their prin- 
cipal chief was Abderaman. They were the tribes 
united by Mahomet, and effected, almost in an in- 
stant, under the conduct of the caliphs and their suc- 
cessors, the conquest of an immense country. They 
subdued, on the one hand, Persia, Syria, and penetrat- 
ed as far as the gates of Constantinople ; whilst, on 
the other, they traversed Egypt, inundated Africa, 
the islands of the Mediterranean, and Spain — they 
also broke into France, where nothing could arrest 
their progress till they were opposed by Charles Mar- 
tel, whose valor and abilities completely defeated 
them in the vicinity of Poictiers, forcing them to re- 
tire into Spain, where they founded, upon the ruins 
of the Visigoths, a dominion which continued for se- 
ven hundred and eighty years, with more or less lus- 
tre, until they were totally subjugated and expelled 
by Ferdinand and Isabella, who got possession of 
Grenada, their last asylum, a. d. 1492. The Saracens 
of Asia were destroyed by the Tartars a. d. k248. — 
The name only is ail that remains to us at this day 
of this celebrated people, who, at one time, gave laws 
to a great portion of the earth. Nevertheless, the 
Saracens of Bagdad merit a generous recollection for 
the lustre which, in the time of their caliph Haroun 
Al-Rascliid, they shed upon science and letters.—- 



94 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

The Saracens commenced a. d. 632 and ended their 
career in 1492. 

The Mlemanni had for their principal chief Chono- 
domar. They were a confederacy of a great num- 
ber of different tribes, which circumstance is sup- 
posed to have given rise to their name, which implies 
a collection of all men, or of all sorts of men. The 
confederation took place about the year 215 after 
Jesus Christ, between the Leek and the upper Rhine. 
Others will have it that their name was derived from 
the little river Altmuhl, in Franconia, otherwise call- 
ed Allemanus — but according to Pfeftel (in his abridg- 
ment of the history and public law of Germany) it 
remains to be ascertained whether it was the river 
that gave its name to the people in its vicinity, or the 
people who o;ave their name to the river. The Alle- 
manni undertook many unfortunate expeditions 
against Italy and Gaul, in which they were constant- 
ly repulsed, particularly by the emperor Julian, near 
Strasburg, a. d. 375 ; and by king Ciovis, at the cele- 
brated battle of Tolbiac, near Juliers, a. d. 496. Af- 
ter these misfortunes the Allemanni remained on 
their native soil, where, in the course of time, their 
name has become a o:eneral denomination for all the 
people beyond the Rhine; M^hilst that of Suabia 
served them ibr a long time as a particular denomi- 
nation. 

Besides the nations I have mentioned, there were 
other liordes of Barbarians instrumental in the de- 
struction of the Roman empire. The Gepides had a 
common origin with the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths, 
from whom they separated on their arrival, from Swe- 
den, in Gei-many. To the north of the Danube they 
founded a kingdom, which was destroyed by the 
Lombards. The Ileruli were one of those numer- 
ous colonies with which German v was covered : itis 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 95 

said tliey were destroyed by the Lombards. In 
truth, it is the custom to call Odoacer, who overturn- 
ed the empire of the west, king of the Herulians ; 
but it is because he was of the Herulian nation, and 
not because he invaded Italy at the head of the He- 
rulians. This prince was in the pay of the emperors, 
as were a number of Barbarian auxiliaries. He re- 
volted, put himself at their head, dethroned Augiis- 
tulus, and took t!ie title of the king of Heruli. Th^ 
Jlvars were chased from Asia by the Turks, and ar- 
rived at the mouth of the Danube about the middle 
of the sixth century. They founded an empire, 
which, for a long time, proved an inconvenient neigh- 
borhood to the eastern empire of the Romans. The 
Bulgarians emigrated from Scytliia, succeeded ta 
the Avars on the shores of the Danube, about th€ end 
of the seventh century, and subdivided themselves, 
in the course of time, into Sclavonians, Croatians, 
Moravians, Wallachians, Bosnians, &c. T'le Venedi 
and the Slavl were colonies that were settled on the 
borders of the Baltic, and, in a lapse of years, were 
subjugated and incorporated with the Germanic em- 
pire. The Danes and the JK'^ormans were maritime 
people of the coasts of Jutlantl and Norway. Tliey 
laid Europe waste about the ninth and tenth centu- 
ries ; landed on the sea coasts, sailed up the rivers, 
pillaging, burning, and sacking, every thing in their 
course. In this manner they visited Germany and 
France, and invaded England and Ireland. The 
Hungarians arrived from the east of the Volga to- 
wards the end of tlie ninth century, and for a long 
time were a plague to the Greeks and the Franco- 
Germans. The Turks commonly dwelt at the foot 
oi' Mount Imaus, in the centre of Asia : At first they 
were .the slaves of a Scythian horde from which they 
revolted ; and, becoming masters in their turn, they 



96 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

subjugated all the people that surrounded them. — - 
Their princes, under the title of Sultans, made them- 
selves by force the lieutenants of the Saracen Ca- 
liphs of Bagdad, penetrated into Syria, into Asia Mi- 
nor, and even took possession of Constantinople, 
which they now govern. 

The Barbarians who effected the destruction of 
the Roman empire, may be divided into three classes ; 
1. Those of Europe. 2. Those of Asia. And, 3. 
Those of an intermedial origin. If, from the penin- 
sula of the Crimea to the mouths of the Dwina, we 
imagine an irregular line in that direction, we shall 
have to its left the Barbarians of Europe : if, again, 
we imagine another line from the mouths of the Don 
or Tanais, to those of the Oby, we shall have to its 
right the Barbarians of Asia : and as to the interme- 
diary hordes, they occupy the space between these 
two lines. 

Tlie Barbarians of Europe, or Germans, were re<^ 
markable for the beauty of their persons, the fairness 
of their complexions, and the length of their hair.— 
The Teutonic was the language common to them all, 
under various dialects. They gained their subsist- 
ence by hunting, lived in huts, and seldom changed 
tlieir residence unless compelled by circumstances. 
They wore their vestments close to their body, had 
but one Vvdfe each, and their principal military force 
consisted in infantry. Under the general denomi- 
nation of Barbarians of Europe may be comprised 
the Franks, the Allemanni, the Gotlis, subdivided into 
Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Gepides ; the Lombards, 
the Burgundians, the Vandals, the Suevi, the Heruli, 
the Qiiadi, the Marcomanni, the Angles, the Saxons, 
the Danes, and the Normans. 

The Intermedial Barbarians, or the Scythians and 
Sarmatians, united the complexion and tbrm of the 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 9;* 

Barbarians of Europe to the customs and language 
of those of Asia, and thus served at once as a bar- 
rier and a link between these two different species. 
These nations, continually pressing to the south, re* 
cruited, without intermission, the mass of people 
which they found to the right and to the left, and 
who occupied the void space which their excursions 
occasioned. Under the general denomination of in- 
termedial Barbarians, ought to be comprised the 
Sclavi, the Venedi, the Bulgarians, the Bosnians, the 
Servians, the Croatians, the Polanders, and the Rus- 
sians. 

The Barbarians of Jlsia^ or the Tartars, were cha- 
racterised by the deformity of their persons and the 
brown complexion or sun-burnt color of their skins. 
The Sclavonian was the language common to them 
all, under different dialects. They were shepherds, 
constantly residing in the midst of their numerous 
herds of cattle, and always seeking for new pas- 
turage. They encamped under moveable tents, 
wore loose, floating garments, had many wives, and 
their principal military force consisted of cavalry. 
In a word, they presented a perfect contrast with 
those of Europe. Under the general denomination 
of Barbarians of Asia, we may comprehend the Huns, 
the Alains, the Avars, the Hungarians, and the 
Turks. The Arabs, or Saracens, are excluded from 
this enumeration, inasmuch as they belong is> the 
south of Asia. C. 



98 HISTORICAL LETTEllS. 

LETTER XV. 

The Romans — Concluded. 

S ALLUST, a Roman of senatorial dignity, and at 
once a libertine and an elegant writer, in speaking 
of the causes of the prosperity and misfortunes of 
Rome, fixes our attention by some very acute ob- 
servations. " Upon reading many, and hearing of 
many glorious achievements (says he) which the 
Roman people did, at home and in war, by sea and 
land, I was accidentally inclined to consider nar- 
rowly what things had chiefly supported such great 
performances. I was sensible that often with a small 
handful they had engaged with mighty armies of 
their enemies : I liad found, that wars had been car- 
ried on by small forces with potent kings : and fur- 
tlier, that they had often borne the shocks of fortune : 
that tlie Greeks for eloquence, the Gauls for reputa- 
tion in war, were before the Romans. And to me, 
upon revolving many things, it appeared certain, that 
the extraordinary conduct of a few citizens had ef- 
fected all ; and hence it came to pass, that poverty 
vanquished riches and a handful multitudes. But 
after tlie city was debauched with luxury and idle- 
ness, the commonwealth, in its turn, by its own gran- 
deur, supported the vices of its generals and magis- 
trates ; and, as happens to a mother past bearing, 
there has been, indeed, for many years, not any one 
eminent for a great character at Rome. But in my 
4)wn4:ime there have been two men, Cato and Cpesar, 
of extraordinary abilities, yet different in their way.'* 
And in the portraits which Sallust draws of these 
two distinguished persons, may be recognised a spe- 
cimen of the republican virtues and manners^ and an 



HISTORICAL LETTERS* 99 

example of the spirit and conduct that were best 
calculated to attract attention and fix admiration af- 
ter corruption had crept into the commonwealth. — 
*' The extraction of Cato and Ceesar, (according to 
Sallust,) their age^ their eloquence, were almost equal; 
their greatness of soul was the same, as also their 
glory ; but in each of a different kind. Ceesar was es- 
teemed great for his kind offices and generosity ; Cato 
for the integrity of his life. The former became fa- 
mous by clemency and compassion : rigid strictness 
gave a mighty reputation to the latter. Caesar ac- 
quired glory by giving, by relieving, by forgiving ; — 
Cato by offering no presents to bribe the people. In 
the one there was a refuge for the miserable ; in the 
other certain destruction for the wicked. The frank- 
ness of the former was celebrated ; the steadiness of 
the latter. Finally, Caesar had put on a resolution 
to labor and to watch ; quite taken up with the aflairs 
of his friends he neglected his own ; and refused no- 
thing that was worth the giving : he wished for great 
command to himself, for an arm}^ for an uncommon 
Avar, where his vast abilities might be displayed. — 
But for Cato was ihe study of sobriety, of decency, 
but especially of strict discipline. He did not vie 
with the rich in riches, nor in faction with the party- 
man ; but in bravery with the brave, in modesty with 
the modest, in innocence with the guiltless. lie 
chose rather to be good than appear so ; and the less 
he courted fame the more it followed him." In brief, 
we may conclude, from what Sallust says, and from 
the information which we derive from other sources, 
that had Caesar lived in the early days of the repub- 
lic, he would have been as rigidly virtuous as Cato ; 
but perceiving that the Roman people were corrupt- 
ed, he accommodated himself to the s^nrit of the 
times, and won the alfections of the multitude by 



100 HISTORICAL LETTERS* 

those artifices which are the most likely to prevail in 
a luxurious age. Cato, with his thorny virtues, was 
so indiscreet as to attempt to revive, in a voluptuous 
generation, the sturdy principles of the first of the 
Romans; and thereby made proselytes for Caesar 
more expeditiously than Ceesar could have made 
ihem for himself. In this eftbrt he experienced the 
fate of those emperors, who, in succeeding times, at- 
tempted to restore the relaxed discipline of the le- 
gions. Cato eventually perished by his own hand, 
despairing of the commonwealth. It is thought by 
many, that had he been somewhat more flexible of 
temper, had he concerted his plans of reformation 
more upon the actual circumstances of his country, 
and less upon a severe abstract idea of republican 
probity, he might have prolonged the duration of the 
free institutions of Rome. Ceesar, however, prevail- 
ed. He was one of tlie most subtle, enterprising, and 
magnanimous men of his day. At once valiant, learn- 
Bd, eloquent, and witty, he gave brilliancy to all 
these qualities by temperance and activity. I speak 
of Csesar as a man, and not as the subduer of his 
country's liberties. But, in truth, it was not so much 
Ceesar, as it was the Roman people themselves, who 
enslaved the republic. Their vices, their passions, 
their factions, overthrew the fair fabric of freedom, 
which had been reared by the courage and frugality 
of their ancestors : and it maybe safely laid down as 
a maxim, that no people can be enslaved by their own 
great men, ii they are true to themselves. 

Upon the death of Julius Ceesar, after the punish- 
ment of his assassins, Augustus having overthrown 
all his rivals, became emperor, and under republican 
forms of government wa& the absolute master of tlie 
Roman world. Confiding wholly neither in the peo- 
ple nor in the soldiery^ he interposed the majesty of 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 101 

the senate between himself and the latter, and claim- 
ed their obedience as the first magistrate of the re- 
public : whilst, to crush the first movements of re- 
bellion in the empire, and to awe. the populace of the 
citj, he instituted the Preetorian Guardg, which ori- 
ginally consisted of nine or ten thousand men, di- 
vided into as many cohorts. Vitellius increased 
them to sixteen thousand, and they never afterwards 
sunk much below that number. These favored troops 
were distinguished by double pay and superior pri- 
vileges. Fearful of alarming and irritating the peo- 
ple, Augustus only stationed three cohorts in the 
city, the remainder being quartered in the adjacent 
towns of Italy ; but fifty years afterwards, when peace 
and servitude had enervated the minds of the Romans, 
Tiberius collected the whole body at Rome, in a 
permanent camp, fortified with skill and care, and 
placed in a commanding situation. It was thus that 
a military force was substituted for the will of the 
citizens ; and the moment the people lost their liber- 
ty, tliey lost their influence in the government. It 
became, in the end, a maxim with the emperors, that 
the fidelity of the army was all that was necessary 
to the stability of the throne. 

The courage and patriotism of the Romans under 
the republic, achieved and sustained its conquests. 
But the destruction of Carthage and the plunder of 
tiie east filled the city with riches ; these, in time, 
occasioned vast inequality of property, which, on the 
one hand produced indolence, pride, and personal 
ambition ; whilst, on the other, it infused into the 
lower classes a spirit of servility and indifference for 
national prosperity. Virtue, the great prop of na- 
tions, being dissipated by such causes, the emperors 
had to seek the means of defending their provinces 
and sustaining their grandeur in discipline, which, 
1 2 



it)2 IHSTORICAL LETTERS. 

SO long as it lasted, (connected with the ancient re- 
nown of the legions,) successfully guarded the Ro- 
man world from the incursions of the Barbarians. — 
But what had happened among the people during the 
republic in the election of their consuls, in time occur- 
red among the soldiery in the election of the empe- 
rors: donations and largesses corrupted the one as 
they had corrupted the other ; and as the corruption 
of the people had occasioned the destruction of the 
republic, so did the corruption of the soldiery bring on 
the ruin of the empire. Relaxed in their discipline, 
and feeling their own power, the legions made a traf- 
fic of the imperial throne, and on one occasion actu- 
ally set it up at public sale, when it was purchased 
by a rich senator of the name of Didius Julianus, a 
silly old man, who was beheaded as a common cri- 
minal after a reign of sixty-six days. The legions 
of the provinces held out the longest against corrup- 
tion ; but the circumstance that chiefly upheld their 
military reputation proved pernicious to the state. — 
Tiieir ranks were occasionally recruited from among 
the Barbarians, who, acquiring the art of war, in the 
sequel turned their arms against the empire, invited 
hordes of invaders from the most remote situations, 
and finally annihilated the dominion of the masters 
of the w^orkl. 

But that which more than any thing else precipi- 
tated the downf[ill of the Roman power, was the 
transfer of the seat of empire from Rome to Byzan- 
tium, by Constantine, from whom it has since borne 
the name of Constantinople. This event occurred 
A. D. 324, when Constantine adopted the Christian 
religion, and fought under the auspices of the Holy 
Cross. At length, a. d. 364, a solemn partition of 
the empire took place, Valentinian presiding over the 
empirs of the west, and Valens presiding over that 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. lOS 

of the east. This was a death-blow to the western 
empire, which included the citj of Rome, for it did 
not survive this division much longer than one cen- 
tury. The eastern empire can, in reality, be consi- 
dered as very little more than a fragment of the old 
Roman empire ; the provinces appertaining to it were 
situated chiefly in Asia ; and after having been gra- 
dually diminished by the different attacks of the Bar- 
barians of that quarter of the world, it entirely dis- 
appeared under the Turks, who took Constantinople 
by assault, and put an end to a dominion which had 
subsisted, from the time of Valens to that of Constan- 
tine Paleogolus, for nearly eleven hundred years, 
during which it successively bore the names of the 
empire of the east, the Greek empire, the empire of 
Constantinople, and tlie lower empire. It fell by the 
vices of the government and of the people. In the 
twelfth century it did not extend much further than 
the walls of the capital. In the thirteenth centu- 
ry Constantinople was captured by the Crusaders, of 
whom the greater part were French. They kept 
possession of it more than sixty years, under the de- 
nomination of empire of the French or Latins. The 
principal houses (or royal families) seated upon the 
throne of Constantinople, during the eleven centu- 
ries that the empire of the east had subsisted, were 
the Theodosian, the Justinian, the Heraclian, the 
Isaurian, the Phrygian, the Macedonian ; tliose of 
Ducas, of Comnena, of Angelo, of Flanders, of Cour- 
tenay, of Brienne, of Cantacuzene, and of Paleogo- 
lus. It was A. D. 1453 that Mahomet the second got 
possession of Constantinople, and commenced the 
Turkish empire in Europe, which hais continued 
down to our time§ under twenty-two emperors of the 
same family. 



104 HISTORldAL LETTERS. 

Tbe Romans originally borrowed their laws from 
tbe Greeks. Three hundred years after the founda- 
tioiA of the city the people were still governed by 
the arbitrary and uncertain decrees of their judges. 
On the complaints of the citizens ambassadors were 
sent to Athens to study the Grecian laws, a code of 
which they brought back with them, and ten men 
were chosen, under the title of Decemviri, to super- 
intend their institution. These caused the laws to 
be inscribed on ten tables, which thereafter occasion- 
ed them to be called the laws of the ten tables : two 
tables having been subsequently added to the ten, 
they have, from that circumstance, since taken the 
name of the laws of the twelve tables. These De- 
cemviri were made absolute for a year, during which 
all other magistrates were suspended. At the end 
of the year they refused to lay down their power, 
but became the tyrants of the republic, maintaining 
their usurped authority by force : but the people final- 
ly expelled them, and for that time preserved their 
freedom. These laws, the basis of the Roman juris- 
prudence, grew and improved with the increase and 
prosperity of the republic and the empire. Univer- 
sal toleration in religion prevailed ; philosophy and 
philosophers were generally patronised ; the magis- 
trates were enlightened and respected ; the freedom 
of the city was liberally extended to the vanquished ; 
colonies and municipal towns were established and 
generally fostered ; the Greek and Latin languages 
were cherished in those parts of the empire where 
they respectively predominated or were interwoven 
with the prejudices of the people, whilst among the 
polished classes of society both languages were cul- 
tivated with success ; with this difference, however, 
that the Latin was the language of the law, and the 
Greek most commonly that of science and literature* 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 105 

The Romans, like the Greeks, had their slaves, the 
treatment of whom varied according to the variation 
of manners. Italy and the provinces were covered with 
monuments, many of which were erected at private 
expense, and the most of them were for public use, 
consisting of temples, theatres, aqueducts, &c. The 
ruins of these attest in our times their former magni- 
ficence. The roads were extensive and excellent ; 
navigation was encouraged, agriculture and the arts 
of luxury found a protecting hand ; foreign trade 
was patronised ; and, in fiue, every thing was at- 
tended to that could promote the wealth and happi- 
ness of the inhabitants of so extensive an empire. — ■ 
Intervals of peace and universal felicity brought on 
imperceptibly the decline of courage and of genius, 
and eventually produced that degeneracy which 
yielded to the vigor of the Barbarians. The old Ro- 
man empire ended a. d. 800, when Charlemagne was 
crowned emperor. C. 



LETTER XVI. 

Sacred History. 



THE influence which the introduction of Chris- 
tianity has had upon human affairs, and, particularly, 
its instrumentality in rescuing mankind from the 
ignorance and tyranny of those governments which 
were established upon the ruins of the Roman power, 
render it necessary to enter briefly into an analysis 
of Sacred History. In the year 4004 before Jesus 
Christ we date the creation, or birth oi Adam, The 



106 HISTORICAL LETIeBTS,, 

description of this period acquaints us with the cir- 
cumstances of the formation of the world, and de^ 
monstrates to men their immediate connexion with 
their Creator. The facts rehated rest upon tlie au- 
thority of the Bible, which is composed oi two parts, 
the Old and the JS\w Testaments. The Old Testa- 
ment contains Genesis, w4iich describes the creation, 
and embraces a period of two thousand years : Ex- 
odus, wliich gives us the departure of the Israelites 
from Egypt : Leviticus, containing the law of tiie 
priesthood : Numbers, or recapitulation of the peopled 
and Deuteronomy, or recitation of the law. These 
five books were written by Moses, and are called the 
Pentateuch. They form the most antique monument 
with which we are acquainted, and comprise a body 
of laws which, by a very singular duration, are ob- 
served by a people still existing. The book of Je- 
shua, is the history of his ov»'n times. The book of 
Judges gives the names and thie history of the Judges : 
The book of Ruth, ascribed to Samuel, is a private 
history. The four books of Kings give the history 
of Israel for six hundred years. Paralipomena, or 
things forgotten, is commonly called the two books 
of Chronicles. The tvv^o books oi Esdras give us the 
history of, and after, the captivity of the Jews. The 
four books 0- Tobit,* Judith,* Esther, and Job, are 
private histories. The one hundred and fifty Fsalms, 
were written principally by David. The Proverbs, 
Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, by Solomon. — 
The book of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and the books 
of the Prophets. There are sixteen Prophets, of 
whom four are called the Great Prophets, from the 
importance o: their writings ; namely, Isaiah, Jere- 
miah, with his secretary Baruch ; Ezekiel, and Da- 
niel. The twelve others are the lesser Prophets ; 
that is to say, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Abdias, JonaK 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. "107 

Micah, Nahirni, Habbakiik, Zephanial), Haggai, Za- 
cheriah, and Malacbi. The two books of Maccabees* 
conclude the Sacred History of the Old Testament, 
130 years before Jesus Christ. In all forty-five 
books, according to the decision of the council of 
Trent, All the books marked thus (*) are admitted 
as canonical by the Roman, but not by the Protes- 
tant, Church. The books of tlie New Testament are, 
the four Evangelists, that is to say, St. Matthew, St. 
Maiic, St. Luke, and St. John. The Acts of the Apos- 
tles. Fourteen epistles of St. Pa*<l. One epistle of 
St. James. Two epistles of St. Peter. Three epis- 
tles of St. John. One epistle of St. Jude. The Apo- 
calypse, or Revelations of St. John. In all twenty- 
seven books, agreeably to the decision of the council 
of Trent. The most ancient version of the Holy 
Scriptures, and that wiiich is most esteemed, is the 
fe-mous Septuagint, or version of the Seventy, trans- 
lated into Greek by order of Ptolemy. The Latiw 
Bible, which is used in the Roman Church, called 
tlie Vulgate, is a translation by St. Jerome. There 
;ire four celebrated Polyglots ; or Bibles in many 
languages : the first was by the Cardinal Ximenes, 
in the year of our Lord 1515 ; the second, by Plan- 
tin, at Anvers, in 1572 : the third, by Le Jay, at 
Paris, in 1645 : and the fourth, by Walton, at Lon- 
don, in 1657. 

In the year 2548 before Jesus Christ, existed Noah, 
in whose time the deluge took place. The three sons 
of Noah, (from whom proceeded all nations,) were 
Shem, Ham, and Japhet. The people of Asia sprung 
from Shem, those of Africa from Ham, ami the peo- 
ple of Europe from Japhet* 



103 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Time of the Patriarchs* 

In the year 1996 b. c. lived Abraham, who had for 
his wife Sarah. In 1896, Isaac, whose wife was Re- 
becca. In 1836, Jacob, who had for wives Rachel 
and Leah. In 1706, b. c. Jacob and his twelve sons, 
fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, who established 
themselves in Egypt. In 1573, the Israelites wer© 
persecuted in Egypt. 

Time of the Judges, 

In the year 1504 b. c. Moses effected his departure 
from Egypt. In 1490, Aaron, the brother of Moses, 
became high priest. In 1451, Joshua entered the 
land of promise. In 1245, Gideon achieved a vic- 
tory without fighting. In 1136, lived Sampson ; and 
iSamuel, who was the last of the Judges. 

Time of the Kings. 

In the year 1095 b. c. Saul was anointed and crown- 
ed king by the order of God. In 1055, lived David, 
who was at once a king, a poet, and a prophet. And 
in 1015, Solomon flourished, renov/ned throughout 
the world for his wisdom. 

SCHISM OF THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL* 

Kings of Judah, 

Judah, under the separation, embraced two tribes ; 
and in the year 975 b. c. had for king Rehoboam ; and 
in 884, Athaliah. Tliere flourished among these two 
tribes the prophets Elias, Elisha, Jonah, Hosea, Micah, 
and Isaiah ; in these times also lived Holofernes and 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 1Q9 

Judith. In 606 commenced the captivity of Judah. 
Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, and led away cap« 
tive the king. 

J^wgs of Israel* 

In the schism, Israel comprehended ten tribes. In 
the year 975 b. c. Jeroboam was their king. Amri 
built Samaria. Hosea was the last king of Israel. 
In 721 Salmanazar destroyed this kingdom, which 
had endured for two hundred and fifty years. He 
led the ten tribes away captive and dispersed them. 
Of these tribes the prophets were Tobit, Jeiemiah, 
Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel : Susanna and Esther were 
also of the tribes of Israel. 

In the year b. c. 536, the captivity of the Jews 
ended. They were permitted to return to their 
country by Cyrus ; and they departed, to the num- 
ber of forty thousand, under the conduct of Zoroba- 
bel, of the blood-royal of Judah ; of Jesus,, the son of 
the high priest ; of Esdras, a doctor of laws ; and of 
Nehemias, the governor of the people. In 504 the 
temple was rebuilt, after fifteen years of labor. Then 
occurred the seventy weeks of Daniel. In 458 flou- 
rished Esdras ; and in 445 Nehemiah ; and also Ma- 
lachi, who was the last prophet. 

Nehemiah, by the favor of Artaxerxes Longimanus, 
rebuilt Jerusalem. The government of the Jews, from 
this period to that of the Maccabees, was a kind of 
aristocracy, under the protection of the Persians and 
the Greeks. The high priests joined to the sacerdo- 
tal functions the civil administration, but with the 
concurrence and aid of the principal persons of the 
nation. In 332 Alexander the Great entered Jeru- 
salem, Jaddus being then high priest. In 270 the 
Septuagint was made. This translation of the Holy 
K 



110 HISTORICAL LETTEES. 

Scriptures was the work of seventy old men, whom 
the priest Eleazar sent to Ptolemy Philadelphus, king 
of Egypt, who had demanded them of him. 

Two hundred years before Jesus Christ the per- 
secution of the Jews by Antiochus, king of Syria, 
commenced. He entered Jerusalem and profaned 
the temple. It was in these times that the Macca- 
bees exhibited prodigies of valor, and eventually li- 
berated their country. In 130 the Sacred History 
concludes with the two books oi the Maccabees. 

The Talmud is the most complete body of the 
Jewish doctrines ; and it is composed of two parts : 
the Misna, which is the text ; and the Gemar, which 
is the commentary. The Jews acknowledge two Tal- 
muds ; that of Jerusalem, written one hundred and 
fifty years after Jesus Christ ; and that of Babylon, 
the production, it is believed, of the sixth century. — 
This last is generally followed, tlie extreme obscuri- 
ty of the former having caused them to neglect it. 

Thirty-seven years before Jesus Christ the usur- 
pation and reign of Herod took place. This brings 
us down to tlie birth of our Savior. 

Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, was born to- 
wards tlie latter end of the reign of Augustus Cfesar. 
He lived with his mortal parents till he was thirty 
years of age, when he was baptized by John in the river 
Jordan. For three years afterwards he went about 
the country doing good and inculcating the everlast- 
ing maxims of the Gospel. The Jews had all along 
expected, and even still expect, a Messiah ; but they - 
expected him in the style of an emperor or king, and 
refused to acknowledge a Savior who appeared be- 
fore them in the holy humility of Christ. At last they 
brought a false accusation against him, and caused 
him to be put to death by the Roman power. He was 
crucified in the thirty-tliird year of his age ; a kind 



HISTORICAL LETTERS*. Ill 

of death only iniiicted on slaves. His body having 
been buried, it experienced a resurrection on the third 
day: he returned to heaven, whence his divine Spirit 
emanated, and, seated on the right hand of God, will 
remain there till the final dissolution of all things, 
when he will come to judge of the quick and the 
dead. For some time after our Savior's resurrection, 
the apostles preached to none except to those of the 
circumcision, whether Jews or Proselytes ; but after- 
wards they extended their labors all over the world : 
their first converts were appointed elders in the 
churches, whose business it was to instruct the new 
converts and to prevent them from relapsing into 
idolatry* The business of these elders or bishops 
was to preach to the people, to pray with them, and 
administer the Sacraments. The second order in 
the churches was that of deacons, and from among 
them the bishops were generally elected : their office 
was to visit the sick, to pray with them, and in times 
of persecution to assist the bishopin visiting the peo- 
ple from house to house. During their leisure hours 
they followed secular employments, and their people 
were not burthened to support them ; but whenever 
a support w^as wanting it was cheerfully granted. — • 
They were plain in their dress. Such as were Jews, 
and embraced the Christian religion, were at liberty 
to practise their own rites and ceremonies, yet they 
were not to impose them on others ; but this fell into 
disrespect, and Jewish ceremonies were seldom used 
after the destruction of Jerusalem, This was the 
state of the church during the age of the apostles ; and 
few ceremonies were used till Constantine the Great 
embraced the faith. The Christian form of worship, 
before Constantine gave it a civil establishment, was 
as follows : when the congregation was assembled, a 
p«rtion of the Sacred Scriptures was read, and often 



112 HISTORICAL LETTERS.. 

epistles from neghboring churches, by a person who 
was a candidate for Holy Orders, who was called the 
derk, or more frequently the reader. The place 
from whence he read was an eminence in the Church, 
where he could be seen and heard by all the people : 
this eminence was called the pnlpitium, from whence 
our word pulpit is derived. No person was permit* 
ted to speak while he read, for during the three first 
centuries of Christianity responses were not used in 
the churches. After the reading the Scriptures fol- 
lowed the singing of psalms, or divine songs of their 
own private composing. The mode of singing was 
optional, and different in different churches. After 
the singing was ended the bishop stood up and deli- 
vered a sermon, which was commonly an explication 
of what had been read in the lessons, and concluded 
with some practical inferences. On the conclusion 
of the sermon the whole congregation stood up to 
present their prayers to Almighty God, with their 
faces turned to the east. The ministers wore a pal- 
lium, or cloak, in preference to the Roman toga, or 
gown, which w as more gay and splendid. When the 
prayer was concluded, the people said •Stmeriy or So 
be it. Baptism was an early ceremony among the 
Christians : the bishop or president usually baptized ; 
but when the members of the church were increased,, 
assitants were chosen, called presbyters : these w^ere 
selected from among the people and ordained in the 
same manner as the bishops. Infants, of Christian 
parentage, and adult converts, were those who re- 
ceived tne benefits of baptism. The celebration of 
the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper, w^as also an early 
and very solemn exercise of the church. The meet- 
ings of the primitive believers were usually in houses, 
which they denominated churches ; but in times of 
persecution they used to meet in fields, in deserts* 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 113 

and sometimes in ships that laid near the sea-coast. 
In describing the form of their churches, Tertuilian 
says, " The house of our dove-like religion is simple, 
built on high, and in open view, respecting the light 
as the figure of the Holy Ghost, and the east as the 
representation of Christ." The Lord's day, or Sun- 
day, was the chief time of religious worship; and in 
some parts of Asia, where there were many Jews, 
the Christians performed divine service both on Sa- 
turdays and Sundays, that they might convince those 
infatuated people, that although tliey worshipped 
Christ as theirGod, yet they honored Moses who was 
a divine law-giver. There were also other times ap» 
propria ted for holy fasts and feasts. 

The Christians buried their deatl apart from the. 
Heathens. When the bishop died the whole con° 
gregation met together to choose another in his room, 
and being elected by a majority of voices, the minori- 
ty acquiesced, and the bishop elected was presented 
for confirmation to the neighboring bishops, after 
which he was ordained in his own church. The cen- 
sures of the early Christian societies were directed 
against heresy, schism, covetousness, gluttony, forni- 
cation, adultery, and other sins of a scandalous na- 
ture. The whole church, clergy and laity, consti- 
tuted the judges of the ofteRders, and the sentence 
of excommunication v/as pronounced against con- 
victed delinquents. Every person thus excommu- 
nicated, or cast out, was looked upon as accursed of 
God, and consigned over to eternal perdition. But 
by fasting, prayer, watching, mourning, and a train 
of severe mortifications,, the sinner might be absolved, 
from his guilt and restored to the bosom of the church. 
During the. first three centuries of the Christian era 
Synods, or meetings of members of difterentchurches^ 
were not universal but provincial, called according 



114 HISTORICAL LETTERS, 

to circumstances. They were composed of the bish'. 
ops, some of the prespytery, anti deacons, and a de- 
putation of the laity from each church. The primi- 
tive Christians were, in general, innocent in their 
lives ; they loved, cherished, and adhered to one ano- 
ther in prosperity, in adversity, and in death. Brand- 
ed with odious names, scandalized by the vilest ca- 
lumnies, and persecuted by Jews and Pagans ; by 
union, probity, and fortitude, they eventually tri- 
umphed over every obstacle, and established their re- 
ligion upon an imperishable basis. 

Before the reign of Constantine the Great many 
heresies arose in the Christian church. Simon Ma- 
gus was the first that broached heresy ; having pro^ 
fessed to be a convert to the apostle Peter, and been 
baptized, he went about teaching all kind of profane 
notions. The Abelians, or Abelonians, were a re- 
markable sect of heretics, Avho permitted marriage 
only on the terms of association supposed to have ex- 
isted in Paradise before the fall of Adam. They did 
not endure for a long time. Adamites were another 
sect who sprung up about the middle of the second 
century. Their founder was one Prodicus, and they 
met together in all their public assemblies naked. — 
They were a beastly society, and from their abomi- 
nations soon relapsed into Paganism, The same he- 
resy was revived in the fifteenth century by one Pi- 
card, a native of Flanders, a mad-brained enthusiast, 
who retired with his followers to the mountains of Bo- 
hemia, and was finally seized at Amsterdam. There 
%vas a sect called iErians, who held that no clergy- 
man was superior to another, and that it was unlaw- 
ful for the clergy to marry ; and these were called 
heretics : they existed about the latter end of the 
reign of Constantine. Arianism, (from Arius, a pres- 
byter of the church of Alexandria^ in Egypt,) was- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 115 

another heresy. The founder of this sect taught his 
disciples that there was a time when the son was not 
created ; that he was like the angels, liable to com- 
mit sin ; that being united to human flesh he supplied 
the place of a human soul, and consequently was 
subject to pains and all sorts of sufferings in the same 
manner as men. At a council, or synod, of one hun- 
dred bishops of Egypt and Lybia, Arius and his fol- 
lowers were degraded from their orders and excom- 
municated out of the church. To remedy the dis- 
order which this heresy occasioned, Constantine the 
Great called the first General Council of Nice in 
Bythinia, at which were present three hundred and 
eighteen bishops, from all parts of the empire, besides 
a vast number ot other church officers, and amongst 
these were several from Britain. Arius was sum- 
moned before the council, where he boldly appeared ; 
but the sentence of excommunication was confirmed ; 
and the emperor added a decree, excluding him and 
all his followers from places, either ecclesiastical or 
civil ; condemning them also to perpetual banishment. 
About three years afterwards all the Arian bishops 
were restored to their sees, and Arius himself was 
recalled. Arius obtained an audience of the empe- 
ror, presented him with a confession of his faith, art-- 
fully drawn up, and this satisfied Constantine. — ■ 
Athanasius, then enjoying the bishopric of Alexan- 
dria, (exclusion from which is supposed to have been 
the chief cause of the heresy of Arius, who had been 
a candidate for it) was so enraged that he refused to 
admit the Arians. These latter, equally enraged^ 
made interest at court, and effected the banishment 
of Athanasius : the church of Alexandria, neverthe- 
less, refused to admit Arius : whereupon he drew up. 
a second and more modest confession of his faith, 
which so pleased Constantine, that he ordered AIeK- 



116 HISTORICAL LETTERS, 

antler, bishop of Constantinople, to admit him 
into his church the next day ; but, the night before 
tliis was to take place, Arius died. The heresy did 
not die with him. Athanasius was recalled; but 
they still continued to anathematize and excommu- 
nicate each other. Michael Servetus, a Spanish 
physician, revived this heresy about the time of the 
reformation, for which he was burnt alive at Geneva ; 
but his followers were few in number. In the primi- 
tive ages the Arians divided themselves into many 
branches ; there were the Semi-Arians ; the Ano- 
mceans, or Pure Arians ; the Eudoxians, from Eu- 
doxus, who undertook the defence of Arius, and was 
elected bishop of Germanicia, in Syria, by the Arian 
party. He opposed the doctrine of the Trinity in 
the Grand Council of Antioch, a. d. 341 : and after- 
wards in the Councils of Sardica, Sirmium, and Seli- 
cucia. Constantine the Great appointed him arch- 
bishop of Constantinople. Another branch of the 
Arians, was the Eunomeans, founded by Eunomius, 
bishop of Syzicus, who had formerly been a soldier, 
but afterwards studied divinity. He was first banish- 
ed by the emperor, then recalled, and treated with 
the highest honors. The Eusebians (from Eusebius) 
were another sect. Eusebius was a man of learning, 
was at first favored by Constantine the Great, after- 
wards banished, then recalled, and after the death 
of Constantine, he prevailed with his son Constanti- 
nus to patronize the Arians, and a. d. 341, a council, 
by the emperor's orders, was assembled at Antioch, 
and declared the Arian heresy to be the established 
religion of the empire. Macedonius was the founder 
of another Arian sect ; he carried the doctrines of the 
heresy very far, and had for some time great respect 
in the Christian world.. The Pholinians, (from Pho- 
linus, bishop of Sirmich, in Pannonia,) were anotlier 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 117 

branch of Arians. He went so far as to declare that 
God was not immense, for which he was discarded 
by the Arians, and excommunicated in the council 
held at Milan, a. d. 346. The Gnostics were a sect 
of heretics, of which Simon Magus was said to have 
been the founder ; they affected superior piety and 
heavenly inspiration ; but were guilty of many blas- 
phemies and gross immoralities. The Valentinians 
(from Valentinus) were an heretical sect that sprung 
up about the middle of the second century. This 
sect was one of the most famous and most numerous 
in the early ages of Christianity ; the founder was 
originally a Gnostic, but having refined upon the 
notions of that sect, he went to Rome, where he 
preached upwards of twenty years. He was a 
man of learning and drew his notions from the princi- 
ples of the Platonists, making every idea that could 
be formed stand in the room of a god. The Marci- 
onites were a branch of this Valentinian heres}^ grow- 
ing up from one Marcion, who, in his younger years, 
had lived as a monk in the wilderness. The JEtians 
(from iEtius, a Syrian,) were a sect of heretics who 
flourished in Egypt in the beginning of the fourth 
century : the founder taught that God revealed to 
him what he had kept hid from the Apostles ; that 
good works were not necessary to salvation ; and that 
no sin whatever would exclude those who believed in 
his opinions from the divine favor. About the latter 
end of the second century the cliurch was infested 
with the sect of Basilidians, from Basilides: he 
taught that God created three hundred and seventy- 
five heavens between this world and his seat of glory : 
that each of these heavens had an angel to govern it; 
that the first angel created the angel who governed 
the heaven below him, and so on in progression to the 
last : he also taught the salvation of the soul without 



118 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

the revSurrection of the body, and other extravagan* 
cies. Manes instituted the heretical sect of Mani- 
chees, or Manicheans : he lived under the emperor 
Probus, towards the Latter end of the third century, 
and inculcated the doctrine of two universal princi- 
ples, the one the autlior of all good, the other the au- 
thor of all evil ; his notions were as fantastical and 
numerous as they were obnoxious to true religion ; 
Leo, bishop of Rome, used to say, that the devil, who 
reigned in all heresies, had built a fortress, and rais- 
ed a throne in that of the Manichees, who embraced 
all the errors and impieties that the heart of man is 
capable of. This wicked individual was flead alive and 
his carcase given to the wild beasts, for having failed 
in the cure of a son of the king of Persia, which he 
had undertaken. Another sect of heretics were call- 
ed Originists, from the famous,-'great, and learned 
Origin, who was for many years a Presbyter of the 
church of Alexandria : his doctrine chiefly consisted 
in the interweaving the Platonic philosophy with the 
Christian theology. Donatus, a Numidian bishop, 
established the sect of Donatists, which flourished for 
some time in Afnca : his heresy was an artful mis- 
representation of several of the tenets of the regular 
church ; and weak, unsettled minds, being unable to 
discern the true distinctions, were easily led into 
error. The Agnoites (first established by one Theo- 
pronius) were an heretical sect, who denied the omni- 
science of God, and the intelligence of Christ. On 
the death of John the Evangelist a sect of heretics 
sprung up called Alogians, because they denied the 
Divine Logos, the word, or son, of God: they reject- 
ed the gospel of St. John ; and their founder was one 
Theodore, a currier o- Byzantium. Severus was the 
founder of the Angel'ites, who took their rise towards 
the latter end of the fourth century : they believed 



Historical letters. 119 

that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, were the same ; 
that these were all God in common, but neither of 
them God separately. The Appelleans were reared 
by Appelles, a disciple of Marcion : they rejecte«; all 
the prophetical writings, and denied the resurrection 
of the body. The Apollinarians took their rise from 
Apollinarius, bishop or" Laodicea: they maintained that 
there was not an intelligent soul in Jesus Christ, but 
that the Divinity, joined to humanity, supplied the 
place of a soul. The Aquarians only diftered from 
the Orthodox in mingling water with the wine in the 
Eucharist, and can hardly be called heretics : this 
sect existed in Africa. The Archonites sprang up 
about the latter end of the second century, and 
taught that the world was created by arch-angels, de- 
nied the resurrection of the body, and placed perfect 
redemption in certain chimerical knowledge ; among 
other notions they attributed great power to the de- 
vil. The Artotyrites were a sect of heretics who 
existed in the early ages of the church, and celebra- 
ted the Eucharist with bread and cheese, saying that 
the first oblations made by men were the fruits of the 
eartli and of sheep. The Audeans arose from one Au- 
dean, a Syrian, about the beginning of the fourth centu- 
ry : he asserted that the resemblance between God 
and man consisted in the body of man. The Carpocra- 
tians were a sect founded by Carpocrates, of Alexan- 
dria, who taught that a community of wives was not 
only lawful, but meritorious; that no man could be hap- 
py till he had passed through all sorts of debauchery, 
and that nothing was evil in its own nature, but was 
only so in the opinion of men : proselytes in this sect 
were marked under tlie right ear with a hot iron. — 
Another heretical sect was called Cerdonians, from 
Cerdon, first a philosopher, afterwards a disciple of 
Marcion, the father of the Marcionites : Cerdon 



120 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

taught the existence of two universal beings, a good 
and an evil one, that Christ had only an imaginary 
body, denied the resurrection, and rejected the law 
of the prophets : In opposition to this heresy, the ar- 
ticle, " tlie resurrection of the body" was first insert- 
ed in the creed ; and likewise the article, "/^e suffered 
tinder Pontius Pilate." One Cerinthus, a Jew, or a 
Samaritan, who lived near the time of the emperor 
Domitian, was the founder of the Cerinthians : they 
asserted that the world was created by a power in- 
ferior to God, which interior power had an only son, 
but that he was not the divine word; and they re- 
jected the law of the prophets : they admitted no 
gospel besides that of St. Matthew, rejecting the acts 
of the Apostles, and all the Epistles : St. John wrote 
his gospel partly to refute this heresy. The Circuni- 
callians were a branch of the heresy of the Donatists : 
they were a species of mad-men running about the 
country, seeking death (as martyrdom) by all sorts 
of means except hanging, which they avoided on ac- 
count of Judas' having put an end to his life in that 
way. The Dulcinists arose from one Dulcinea, who 
taught that the law of Moses was rigorous and un- 
just, the law of Christ equitable and merciful, but 
that the law of the Holy Ghost was superior to all, 
and that this had been revealed only to himself: he 
further inculcated tiiat female prostitution was an 
act of charity ; and his followers he called the True 
Churcli : the civil power finally laid hold of him, dis- 
persed his proselytes, and burnt him and his concubine 
alive. The Ebionites sprung from one Ebion, and 
their heresy consisted in uniting certain Jewish ce- 
remonies with those of Christianity. The Ecclesaites, 
who took their rise under the emperor Trajan, were 
a sect nearly resembling the Ebionites. The Euti- 
chyans held that there was but one nature in Jesus 



ii 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 1^1 

Christ, and denied his humanity : this sect was final- 
ly swallowed up in Mahometanism, their heresy hav- 
ing been previously condemned in a council held at 
Constantinople, a. d. 450. Hearcleon founded tlie 
sect of Hearcleonites, who rejected the Old Testa- 
ment, denying all prophets before Jesus Christ ex- 
cept John the Baptist. The liieraxites sprung up 
in the beginning of the fourth century from one Hi- 
erax, who taught that Melchisedec was the Holy 
Ghost, condemned marriages, denied the resurrec- 
tion of the body, and held that all infants were to be 
damned. Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, towards the 
middle of the fourth century, founded the sect of he- 
retics called Liicifereans ; he was partly an Arian, 
and partly a Semi-Arian, and was banished for a 

time by a council assembled at Milan a. d. 336. 

The Massalians arose about the middle of the fourth 
century, taught that the Vv'hole of religion consisted 
in prayer, that good works were unnecessary, pre- 
tendea to prophecy, and blasphemously asserted that 
they could see the Trinity with their naked, eyes.-*- 
Theodore, bishop of Pharan, in Arabia, was the foun- 
der of the Monothelites,who held that Christ had 
two natures, but only one will : this heresy was con- 
demned in a council held at Constantinople a. d. 680. 
After the destruction of Jerusalem, anew sect arose 
calling themselves Nazareans, a name at first given 
to all the follov/ers of our Savior ; their religion was 
a mixture of Jewish and Christian ceremonies. The 
Nicolaites, or Nicolaitans, had their rise in the Apos- 
tolic age, and were among tlie worst sects of heretics. 
Novatian, a presbyter at Rome, founded the sect of 
Novatians : he held that an apostate could never be 
forgiven throughout all eternity; and his followers 
were numerous. About the middle of the second 
century the Othites sprung, up; thev v. orshipped a 
L 



122 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

living serpent tamed, which they kept in a cage. — > 
About the middle of the fourth century the Pelagians 
sprung up from Pelagius, a native of Britain, whose 
original name was Morgan : he held that the general 
resurrection of the dead does not follow from our 
Savior's resurrection ; that rich men cannot enter 
into Heaven unless they part with their estates, &c : 
his doctrines spread far over the world, and were 
vigorously opposed by the orthodox party. Monta- 
nus, a Phrygian by birth, founded the sect of the 
Montanists" about the latter end of the second centu- 
ry ; he pretended to inspiration and great favor with 
the Holy Ghost, a. d. 429, Nestorius, bishop of Con- 
stantinople, broached the Nestorian heresy ; he taught 
that there were two natures in Christ, and two per- 
sons, the divine and the human : this heresy was con- 
demned by the council of Ephesus, and Neslorius 
was deposed and banished by the emperor Theodo- 
sius : one Sergius, a Nestorian monk, assisted Ma- 
homet in writing the Koran, and another got himself 
declared king in the province of Indostan, and grew 
famous by the name of PresteV'-John. The Priscil- 
lianistshad their rise from one Priscillian, a Spaniard, 
and bishop of Avila: he pretended to work miracles 
by magic, held the principal notions of the Manichees, 
and maintained that it was lawiul to make false oaths 
to support oae's cause and interest : this heretic, with 
all his followers, was beheaded a. d. 382, by order of 
the emperor Maximus. The Sabellians sprung from 
Sabellius, who taught that there was but one person 
in the Trinity. The Sethians worshipped Seth, the 
son of Adam, whom they contended was Jesus Christ : 
they were guilty of great debaucheries. The most 
ancient sect of heretics was the Simonians, followers 
of Simon Magus, from whom the greatest number of 
heresies took their rise : they w^orshipped him as s 



'1 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 123 

god, and were guilty of great lewdness. The Ta- 
tianites arose from one Tatian, who taught the notions 
of the Valentinians and Marcionites, and held that 
Adam and Eve could not be saved. The sect of 
Zacheans sprung from Zacheus, about the middle of 
the fourth century : he held that God required of 
men nothing but prayer. The Zanzalians sprung 
from Zanzales, a native of Syria; he rejected bap- 
tism by water, and held that they ought to baptize 
with fire, and all his disciples were branded with a 
red hot iron three times, in the name of the Fathei-, 
Son, and Holy Ghost. The Jovinians sprung from 
Jovinian, a monk of Milan, who held that when a man 
has received grace in baptism he can never lose it : 
they existed about the latter end of the fourth cen- 
tury. About tlie beginning of the same century Me- 
lecius, bishop of Licopolis, in Egypt, founded the sect 
of Melecians : they rejected all Christians that had 
apostatised, and hung little bells to the bottoms of 
their garments, and sung their prayers, dancing all 
the time to appease the wrath of God. Sabbatlius, a 
Jew, instituted another sect, who propagated a mix- 
ture of Christian and Jev*'ish doctrines. The Satur- 
ninians had for their founder one Saturninius, a philo- 
sopher of Antioch : he taught that God created seven 
angels, who created the world, with tv'o kinds of 
men; the good, who v/ere to be saved, and the bad, 
who were to be condemned. These were all^the he- 
retics of any note in the primitive church. Heresy 
is understood by Divines to mean a total deviation 
from the principles of the Christian faith; schism is 
to divide the church and disturb its peace without any 
just cause ; and blasphemy consists in ascribing any 
thing to the Deity unbecoming the perfections of his 
Godhead. By the common law blasphemy is defined 
'taconsist in the denial of the being and providence of 



124 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

God, and a reproaching of the holy name of Jesub 
Christ. 

In the year of our Lord 314, Constantino the Gr^at 
'embraced the Christian religion, but was not baptized 
till a short time before his death: he issued an order 
that all the revenues appropriated for the support of |j 
the heathen temples should be bestowed on the Chris- 
tian clergy. J[n the fourth century, a. d. 325, the 
famous council of Nice met, and formed the creed 
whicii bears their name, and this creed was confirm- 
ed in a general council at Constantinople, a. d. 381. 
It cannot be disguiseil that the Christian clergy, as 
^oon as tlwyhad got a civil establishment, still smart- 
ing witli injuries, turned persecutors and pursued 
the heathens with rigor instead of pious persuasions. 
Pilgrimages to places supposed to be holy began to 
take place in the fourth century ; as did the giv- 
ing the Eucharist to children about the end of it. — 
In the fifth century the bishops of Rome began to 
make great progress towards Papal power ; and ima- 
ges began to be placed upon the altars in Christian 
churches : the practice of having god-fathers for 
children was also introduced in this age, t\ie reason 
of which seems to have been, that the parents of ma- 
ny c!iildren were heathens, and it was necessary to 
have some of the faithful as surety. In the sixth 
century the bishops of Rome claim^ed a saperiority 
over ali the other bisliops, and this was acquiesced 
in. In the seventh century the papal power was 
pretty fijinly established, and the popds were honor- 
ed with the tiara, or triple crown. This word Fope, 
is from the Latin word Fapa, (a father,) and was a 
name given to all bishops till the time of pope Gre- 
gory the seventh, when it was appropriated to the 
bishops of Rome : it was in the seventh century tliat 
the Lord's prayer was first publicly read in the 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 125 

churches, and organs introduced. In the eighth cen- 
tury the papal power made great progress, and the 
ceremony of kissing the pope's toe was practiced, the 
emperor Justinian being the first who submitted to it, 
A. D. 711. During tlie ninth century the popes be- 
came very powerful in politics as well as in religion. 
In the tenth century the temporal power of the popes 
increased so much that the greatest Christian princes 
thought it an honor to be allied to them. In the ele- 
venth century the celebrated Hildebrand Vvas pope, 
under the name of Gregory the seventh : the cardi- 
nals, originally Popish priests in Rome, had now the 
red hat given them as an ensign of their dignity : the 
cardinals are seventy in number, divided into three 
classes, namely : six cardinal bishops, fifty cardinal 
priests, and fourteen cardinal deacons : these com- 
pose the sacred college, elect the pope, and have ab- 
solute power durin"; the vacancy of the hoi v see : the 
dress of the cardinal is a red sattane, a rochet, a 
short purple mantle, and a red hat : Hildebrand rais- 
ed i\\e authority of the popes very high. In the ele- 
venth century the crusades took place, promoted by 
the ecclesiastical zeal of the ao;e : there were eij^ht 
of these crusades, the last of them took place a. d, 
1280 : and it is calculated that above two millions of 
men, the flower of the youth and nobility of Europe, 
perished in them. In the thirteenth century pope 
Boniface the eighth assumed the power of deposing 
princes^and instituted the jubilee to be observed 
once every century. The fourteenth century was 
distinguished by several conflicts betv/een the popes 
and temporal princes. In the fifteenth century the 
popes thought their power fully established, although 
some sparks of Protestantism began to appear in tiie 
atmosphere of the church. In the sixteenth century 
Luther gave impetus to what is called the reformation, 
L 2 



H6 historical letters. 

which has given birth to an infinitude of sects, all pro- 
fessing Christianity. From the time of St. Peter the 
Roman Catholic church reckons about two hundred 
and fifty popes, including Pius VII. who, a. d. 1801, 
entered into the Concordat with France, and in 1804 
went to Paris to crown the emperor Napoleon. His 
holiness was afterwards degraded and made a prison- 
er of by Napoleon ; biit was restored to his freedom 
and dignity on the overthrow of that emperor. In the 
year ot our Lord 726, a great dispute arose in the . 
church concerning images, which endured for one | 
hundred and twenty years ; and in 787 was held the 
Seventh general council of Nice against the Icono- 
clasts, or Image-breakers. There were ten consi- 
derable persecutit)ns against the Christians, to wit : 
1. Under Nero ; 2. Domitian ; 3. Trajan ; 4. Marcu* 
Aurelius ; 5. Severus; 6. Maximinus; 7. Decius ; 
8. Valerian ; 9. Aurelian; and 10. Under Galerius 
and Dioclesian. At the end of the second and be- 
ginning of the third century, the monkish life took 
its rise in Egypt in the deserts of the Thebais : the 
first monks were the Anchorites who lived separate- 
ly ; they were established by Paul the hermit ; and 
the Cenobites, who lived in communion ; these last 
were instituted by St. Anthony, a. d. 5 1 6. the Chris- 
tian era was brought into vogue by Dennis the Small. 
A. D. 609, Mahomet preached a new religion, and | 
produced in Asia a revolution in the religious and * 
political world. About the year 755 the temporal 
power of the popes was established by the donations 
of Pepin and Charlemagne. The Danes were con- 
verted to Christianity in 946, and the Russians in 
986, by the marriage of Wlodomir, duke of Kiovia, 
with tlie sister of the emperor of Constantinople. 
The first crusade, or Holy War, took place in 1096. 
In 1 1 13 the Ilospitali^rs^ of St. John of Jerusjilem. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 127" 

{since knights of Malta,) were founded. In 1191, 
the Teutonic order was founded in Germany. Be- 
tween 1204 and 1209 the Inquisition was establish- 
ed. In 1377 the Wickliffites, or Lollards, arose in 
England; and in 1410 the Hussites in Bohemia: 
these were the earliest dissenters from the authority 
of the popes. 

It was A. D. 15 15, that Luther took his stand against 
fhe church of Rome. In 1522 the Anabaptists sprung 
up : In 1533 the church of England was separated 
from the Roman church: in 1534 the society of Je- 
suits was established by Ignatius Loyola: this sect 
is noted for the cunning of its maxims, as well poli- 
tical as religious : the founder was originally a sol- 
dier. In 1535 Calvin commenced the propagation 
of his doctrine. In 1545 a general council was held 
at Trent against the Lutherans. The Hugonots 
sprung up in France in 1560. In 1565 the Molinists 
arose. In 1568 the bull In con a Domini was issued. 
In 1569 the Puritans arose in England ; and in 1608 
the Armenians in Holland. In 1610 more than nine 
hundred thousand Moors were chased out of Spain 
on account of their religion. The Jansenists had 
their origin in 1653. The Quakers, or Society of 
Friends, sprung up in England in 1655.. In 1685 
was the revocation of the edict of Nantz ; an edict 
which had been issued for the protection of the Pro- 
testants in France ; and the revocation of which 
caused the emigration of numbers of French families, 
many of which came to America. In 170.0 the bull 
Um^'pnitiis was issued, which caused great troubled 
in France. In 1773, the society of Jesuits was sup- 
pressed, having been found to meddle too much in 
the affairs of government. 

I have thus given a history of the church as briefly 
as possil^k, including an account of its early heresi^ 



128 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

its rise, power, progress and divisions; wijich, inde*' 
pendently of the edification it may afford the reader, 
will serve to convince him of the Divine origin of a 
system that has stood so many shocks and continued 
to flourish amidst such a series of corruptions. . 

It is a pleasing reflection that the governments of 
Europe appear to be growing more tolerant in reli- 
gious matters. The inquisition is nearly if not en- 
tirely abolished : Protestants are tolerated in France ; 
and Roman Catholics in Great Britain have a certain 
latitude of conscience allowed them, although still 
shcrt of what in reason ought to prevail. But in he- 
reditary monarchies, where an established church is 
necessary to prop the throne, perhaps a liberal tole,' 
ration is all that may be expected. Religious liberty, 
is the boast of the citizens of the United States ; and 
the sacred regard to this freedom of Christian v/or- 
ship manifested by our most enlightened magistrates, 
acting in the true spirit of our glorious constitution, 
may be discerned in the official veto which James 
Madison, president of the United States, put upon 
two bills enacted by Congress in the session of 1810- 
1 1, which slightly involved the subject. Let us liope 
that these precedents will be adhered to through all 
successive changes of parties and politics. C. 



LETTER XYIL 

Re-estaUishment of Government and^ Laivs, after 
the Fall of the Roman Empire^ among the Barba^ 
rians who effected its overthrow, 

THE various hordes of Barbarians that overturned 
the power of Rome were as free as they v/ere martial,; 



mSTORISAL LETTERS. 129 

and the spoils of a predatory incursion, or the dura- 
ble advantages of a permanent conquest, as they were 
achieved by a common effort of valor, so they were 
shared in common among the chieftains and their fol- 
lowers. The cement of their union, whilst they were 
in pursuit of plunder and a place of residence, was 
the desire of the necessaries of life and of a new 
home : but when that desire was gratified by success, 
ii prevailing sense of danger in the midst of a hostile 
country, and the necessity of defending, if they wish- 
ed to enjoy, what they had acquired, compelled them 
to adopt a system of polity for the general security. 
Each individual of these hordes, hitherto accustomed 
to consult nothing but his own inclinations, was in- 
duced to barter a part- of his personal independence 
for tlie assurance of quiet possession and enjoyment 
of the spoils assigned him. Every freeman, upon 
receiving a portion of tlie lands which were divided, 
was bound to appear in arms against the enemies of 
the community. The condition upon which he re- 
ceived and held his lands, was this obligation to per- 
form military service. The king, or general, who led 
them to conquest, had the largest portion allotted to 
him as the head of the colony: he parcelled out his 
lands, binding those on whom they were bestowed to 
resort to his«tandard with a number of men, in pro- 
portion to the extent of the territory they received, 
and to bear arms in his defence : the chief oilicers 
imitated the example of their sovereigns, distributed 
their lands among their dependents, and annexed 
the same condition to the grant. This arrangement 
is called the feudal system, and was in the end pro- 
ductive of petty intestine wars, of much bloodshed, 
and of a state of general anarohy. The powerful 
vassals of the crown extorted a confirmation ibr life 
of those grants of land which at tirst had been be» 



130 1 HISTORICAL LETTERJ5. 

stowed only 'during pleasure: they next procured 
them to be converted into hereditary possesions, and 
finally prevailed to have them rendered unalienable. 
They also appropriated to themselves titles of honor 
as well as offices of power and tfust ; and these per- 
sonal marks of distinction, the legitimate reward of 
merit and abilities alone, were annexed to certain 
families and transmitted from father to son by here- 
ditary riglit. They succeeded likewise in obtaining 
the power of supreme jurisdiction, both civil and cri- 
minal, within their own territories ; the right of coin- 
ing money, and the privilege of carrying on war 
against their private enemies in their own name and 
by their own authority. The nobles at last, scorn- 
ing to consider themselves as subjects, openly aspir- 
ed at independence : kingdoms, powerful in name 
and extent, were broken into as many separate pi'in- 
cipalities as they contained powerful barons. Europe, 
filled with the contests of these lords, was covered 
with castles and places of strengtli for the protec- 
tion of the inhabitants against internal hostilities ; 
the people were in general reduced to a state of ac- 
tual servitude, and kings beheld themselves stripped 
of prerogative and power to enforce obedience to 
their mandates. This state of society and govern- 
ment endured in Europe from the seventh to the ele- 
venth centurj^ The superior genius of Charlemagne, 
for a moment, united all these disjointed and discor- 
dant members, and forming them again into one bo- 
dy, restored to government that degree of activity 
which distinguishes his reign. Upon his death, the 
genius which animated and sustained the vast system 
which he had establisiied being v^^ithdrawn, it fell in- 
to pieces, and a still more dreadful anarcliy afflicted 
the kingxloms into which his empire was split. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS*. 131 

The disorders in the feudal system had attained 
their utmost point of excess about the close of the 
eleventh century. From that era the return of go- 
vernment and manners in a contrary direction may 
be dated. The first cause of this regeneration was 
the crusades, or expeditions to rescue the Holy I<and 
out of the hands of infidels. The Christians, from 
the earliest ages of the church, were accustomed to 
visit that country which the Almighty had selected 
as the inheritance of his favored people, and in 
which the Son of God had accomplished the redemp- 
tion of mankind ; and the merit of these pilgrimages 
was enhanced by the expense, fatigue and danger of 
the journey. The ardor for the performance of the 
voyage was increased by a prevailing belief, about 
the close of the tenth and beginning of the eleventh 
century, that the tiiousand years mentioned by St. 
John, in his Revelations, were accomplished, and that 
the end of the world was at hand. Mankind were 
seized with terror; many abandoned their friends 
and families and hurried to the Holy Land, where 
they imagined that Christ would quickly appear to 
judge the world. Whilst the Caliphs possessed Pa- 
lestine, the resort of pilgrims to Jerusalem was en- 
couraged : but the Turks having conquered Syria 
about the middle of the eleventh century, the Holy 
Travellers were e-xposed to vexatious outrages.—- 
These interruptions filled Europe with alarm and 
indignation : every person who returned from Pales- 
tine magnified the danger, and exaggerated the cruel- 
ties of the Turks. The minds of men being thus 
prepared for the enterprise, a monk called Peter the 
Hermit went from province to province preaching up 
a crusade against the Infidels. The zeal of the Hermit 
proved contagious : Europe sprung to arms as if at 
the voice of Heaven, and the phrenzy lasted for two 



132- * HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

centuries, with various success, and eventual failure 
in the object. But these expeditions gave rise to 
new and more enlightened ideas in the minds of the 
adventurers, many of whom returning home at dif- 
ferent periods, carried back with them the science and 
the arts of the east, which tended to dispel the gloom 
and barbarism of the European kingdoms. The no- 
bles who assumed the cross and bound themselves to 
jnarcli to the Holy Land, required great sums of mo- 
ney to defray their expenses. The feudal system 
was repugnant to taxation, and the great lords were 
compelled to sell their estates to equip themselves. 
The leading monarchs of the west who did not en- 
gage in tlie first crusade, were thus enabled to en- 
large their territories by purchase ; and many of the 
nobles falling in battle without issue, their fiefs re- 
verted to the crown ; so that the latter gradually ex- 
tended its influence, began to predominate and to 
attain a strength which repressed tlie aspiring spirit 
of the barons. The absence of many potent vassals 
left the kingly prerogative more free to exercise it- 
self j whilst the church interposing its authority to 
preserve peace in the possessions of tlmse who had 
devoted themselves to its service, a wider field was 
opened for the regular and peaceable administration 
of justice. 

Another circumstance contributed to the amelio- 
ration of government. The armies which had pro- 
ceeded in the first instance, overland, by way of 
Constantinople, to the Holy Land, found so many 
obstacles in their march through Germany and Hun- 
gary, that they determined to go by sea. The trans- 
ports on which they embarked were furnished by 
Venice, Genoa, and Pisa ; and the sums paid for 
freight alone were immense : they were, however, 
nothing in comparison to the profits derived from the 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 133 

privileges which the adventurers secured to those 
states ill the countries they invaded. These cities 
became thus enriched ; and growing powerful, thejr 
soon usurped, where they could not purchase, immu- 
nities which led to independence and sovereignty, 
diffused all around them sentiments of liberty, and 
promoted a combination of free cities against the 
jurisdiction of kings and nobles. What more imme- 
diately effected this result, was the forming of cities 
into communities, corporations, or bodies politic : 
and so rapidly did these corporations grow in wealth 
and power, that in a very little time, instead of de- 
pending upon superior lords for protection, (as was 
the case in the early stages of political regeneration,) 
they compelled the lords to blend their interests with 
the free cities, and for a great part of the year to 
transfer the place of their residence from their iso- 
lated castles into the bosom of some llouiishing town 
or city, as an evidence of submission to the control- 
ing influence of the latter. What thus arose from the 
crusades, and the prolits of commerce and enterprise 
in the Italian states, was soon adopted by sagacious 
monarchs, and particularly in France by Louis le 
Gros, who first extended ihe plan of conferring new 
privileges on the towns situated within his own do- 
main. These privileges were called Charters of 
Community y by which the inhabitants were enfran- 
chised; all marks of servitude abolished, and cor- 
porations or bodies politic formed, to be governed 
by a council and magistrates of their own nomination. 
The great barons soon imitated the example of the 
monarch ; and made sale, to towns within their ter- 
ritories, of these charters of liberty. Much about 
the same time the great cities in Germany began ta 
acquire like immunities : the practice spread quick- 

M 



134 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

ly over Europe, and was adopted in Spain, England, 
Scotland, and all the other feudal kingdoms. 

The inhabitants of cities having thus secured their 
freedom, made rapid advances in acquiring civil 
liberty and political power. According to a funda- 
mental principle of the feudal system, no freeman 
could be subjected to new laws or taxes except by 
his own consent; and in consequence of this the 
vassal of every baron was called to his court, in 
which they established, by mutual consent, such re- 
gulations as were useful, and granted the superior 
such supplies as were necessary. The free cities, 
in their corporate capacities, effected the enjoyment 
of a similar privilege ; and the great council of each 
nation, whether distinguished by the name of a parlia- 
ment, a diet, the cortes, or the states-general, and 
which was at iSrst composed of such barons and dig- 
nified ecclesiastics as held immediately of the crown, 
at length saw the free towns exercisino; a decisive 
voice in enacting public laws and granting national 
subsidies. The barons who took arms against Henry 
III. in England, a. d. 1265, first summoned represen- 
tatives from the boroughs to attend parliament. Philip 
the Fair, in France, introduced into the states-gene- 
ral the deputies of such towns as had been formed 
into communities. In Germany the imperial cities 
effected the privilege a. d. 129:5, of forming a sepa- 
rate bench in the diet of the empire. 

The freedom of the inhabitants of towns and cities 
was soon followed by the libei'ation of those of the 
country, either by the grant of the sovereign or the 
manumission of the nobles ; for, during the rigor of 
feudal government, the great body of the lower peo- 
ple was reduced to servitude. Luxury favored this 
emancipation ; for, as it increased, the great lords of 
the soil were easily induced, for money, to enfran- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS* 135 

chise their slaves. The progress of liberty was ad- 
vantageous to the- royal authority, which found a coun- 
terbalance to the arrogance of the nobles in the rising 
spirit oi the people. Law began to predominate, li- 
terature to revive, regular government to prevail, po- 
pulation to increase, and tranquillity to reign. This, 
however, was effected by degrees: the first conside- 
rable step towards establishing an equal administra- 
tion ot justice, was the abolition of the right which 
individuals claimed of waging w^ar with each other 
in their own name and by their own authority : ano- 
ther considerable step was the prohibition of the form 
of trial by judicial combat ; a third step was the au- 
thorization of the right to appeal from the courts of 
the barons to those oi the king, and subjecting the 
decisions of the former to the review of the latter. 
The forms and maxims of the canon law, considered 
in relation to the rights and property of individuals, 
are supposed to have contributed not a little towards 
the improvement of jurisprudence ; as did also the re- 
vival of the knowledge and study of the Roman law, a 
copy ot the Pandects of Justinian having been acci- 
dentally discovered in Italy towards the middle of 
the twelfth century. The spirit of chivalry had, like 
wise, a very serious influence in refining the manners 
of the European nations. Valor, humanity, courtesy, 
justice, and honor, were the characteristic qualities 
of chivalry ; and its object was to check the insolence 
of overgrown oppressors ; to rescue the helpless from 
captivity ; to protect, or to avenge, women, orphans, 
and ecclesiastics, who could not bear arms in their 
own defence ; to redress wrongs and remove griev- 
ances. Religion being mingled with the enterprise 
of chivalry, the gallantry of knighthood tempered tlie 
feelings of the nobles to a tone of humanity; war be- 
came less ferocious ; and the haughty lords, who had 



136 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

been the terror of their kings and the scourge of their 
vassals and slaves, yielded by degrees to the empire 
of general civil institutions and to the dictates of rea- 
son. Sometimes, indeed, the spirit of chivalry broke 
out into romantic excesses ; but the benefits it has 
conferred upon mankind far outweigh the evils it 
produced, and compel us to recollect it with venera- 
tion. 

The progress of science and the cultivation of let- 
ters had considerable effect in changing the manners 
of the European nations, and introducing that ci^ 
vility and refinement by which they are at present 
- distinguished : and commerce, in a most astonishing 
degree, promoted the establishment of order, equal 
laws, and benevolence. The reader, who is excited 
to pursue this subject in a more copious strain, may 
be amply gratified by perusing the first volume of Ro- 
bertson's history of the reign of Charles V. C. 



LETTER XVIII. 



Formation of the Kins:doms and States of Modern 
Europe^ after the fall of the Roman Empire, 



FRANCE. 



THE history of France, taken from its origin, com- 
prehends a period of nearly one thousand four hun- 
dred years, during which it was governed by three 
families; the Merovingian, the Carlovingian, and the 
Capetian. The commencement of the monarchy, 
however, is involved in much obscurity ; and when. 



or how, the French established themselves in Gaul ? 
Whether it was under Clovis, or a long time before 
him ? Whether this prince and his predecessors were 
real kings* or merely enterprising chieftains ? Wheth- 
er they rendered themselves masters of Gai*l by a 
sudden irruption and solely by the force of arms, or 
by artful negotiations and a refined policy? Whether 
tiie throne was hereditary or elective ? Whetlier the 
Gauls were reduced to servitude or otherwise ? 
Whether the Franks lived upon a plan of democratic 
equality, or recognised an aristocratical pre-eminence? 
All these are questions of diftlcult solution, and can 
only be answered by ingenious theories and vague 
conjectures. 

Tiie Merovingian race gave twenty-two kings to 
France, and endured three hundred and thirty-one 
years. Pharamond was the first of this house ; and 
Childeric III. was the last: Merovius gave his name 
to the dinasty ; and Clovis was the hero of it. The 
<irown was at tliat time divided among all the bro- 
thers; and it was this partition that led to the de- 
struction of the race, and renders it so difficult to 
trace the history of its reign. There were three re- 
markable divisions : the first was that of the children 
of Clovis, who were four in number: after a great 
many conflicts and crimes, Clotaire I. remained sole 
master, and re-united the disjointed monarchy. At 
his death a new partition took place among his four 
children, new troubles broke out, and new atrocities 
were committed: Clotaire II. his grandson, acquired 
the sovereignty, and again united the French territo- 
ry. But under his two grand children a third divi- 
sion was eifected, into Austrasia, or Eastern France; 
and Neustria, or Western France. The line of Aus- 
trasian kings first became extinct; and Pepin Heris- 
tal, mayor of the palace, an office which had usurped 
M 2 



138 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

all authority, not only would not permit the kings of 
Neustria to succeed to the vacant throne, but com- 
pelled the Neustrian sovereigns to receive him as 
mayor ; and from that moment the Merovingian di- 
nasty was lost. These two chief magistracies of state, 
the royalty and the mayoralty, were hereditary ; and 
it happened that the race of mayors were a succes- 
sion of great men, whilst that of the kings furnished 
in general none but men of incapacity ; so that it ne- 
<?essarily resulted that the mayoi'S were every thing 
and that the kings were nothing. Pepin soon dis- 
carded the phantom of royalty which had only pre- 
served the appearance of power by his permission, 
and mounted the throne himself. The first di- 
vision of the French monarchy is remarkable, because 
it furnishes the first example of the Halique La\L\ 
by which females are deprived of the riglit of inheri- 
tance to the crown; the second, by Brunehaut and 
Fredegonda, two queens, celebrated by the crimes of 
which tliey were either the authors or the objects ; 
the third and last, because it prepared and consum- 
mated the usurpation of the throne by the mayors-vof 
the palace. 

The Carlovingian race endured for two hundred 
and fhirty-six years, and gave eleven kings to France : 
of these I'epin-le-Bref was the first; Louis V. the 
last ; Charlemagne gave it name, and was the hero 
of it. Charlemagne widely extended the French 
frontier'^, and lounded tlie second empire of the west, 
comprehending France, Germany, and almost all 
Italy. Twe crown was divided again under this dy- 
nasty; and the division was succeeded by the same 
ruinous conse«iuences to the race. The son of Char- 
lemagne had tliree children, who reigned in Italy, in 
France, and in Germanv: each of the brothers had 
several offsprings, whicli produced as many subdivi- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS, 189 

sions of territory. All the divisions, the wars to 
which they gave rise, aiid the crimes caused by lliesfi 
conflicts, occupy a space of two or three generations. 
At last Cliarles le Gros, the great grandsow of Char- 
lemagne, re-united by inheritance or usurpation, upon 
his own head, all the estates of his grand father ; but 
he had neither his strength nor his genius. Charles 
was deposed, liis throne crumbled to pieces, and se- 
parate states were formed from the fiagments. Thus 
the fate of the Carlovingians was similar to that of 
the Merovingians; diftering, however, in this, that 
the extinction of the Merovingian dynasty was not 
attended by a revolution in the state, whereas the de- 
piession of tlie Carlovingian race was followed by 
aiiarchy and a kind oi relaxed feudality. The Fiench 
monarchy became nothing more than a tumultuous 
confederacy, which maintained merely the appear- 
ance of royalty. The Carlovingians having been de- 
graded, and incapable thenceforward of enforcing 
obedience or of atfording protection, displayed no- 
thing but rights without powei', and titles without ta- 
lents. They necessarily disappeared before the most 
p()\verful and most able of their vassals. This was 
Hugh Capet, who was the founder of the third dy- 
nasty of French monarchs^ or Capetian race. 

The royal house of Hugh Capet, in the direct 
line, gave seventeen kings to France : the branch of 
Valois gave thirteen kings ; and that of l^ourbon se- 
veral i of these three branches of the Capetian race, 
the direct one had the honor of coinmencins; the re- 
establishment of order, by laving the foundations of 
new institutions and new customs, and becomins:, as 
it were, the cradle of French public and constitu- 
tional law, the old principles having been overturned 
in the turbulence of the times, accruing from the 
feebleness and downfall of the Carlovingian race. — • 



140 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

The branch of Vaiois presents the most active and 
tumultuous scenes in French history: whilst the 
Bourbon branch is, in general, celebrated for the 
mi'idp.ess of its princes and their great valor. It has 
furnished many extraordinary commanders,and two of 
the moat illustrious kings of the monarchy, Henry IV, 
of whom the French never speak without aftection ; 
and Louis the XIV. whom they always mention with 
admiration. But the branch of Bourbon will be no lesa 
celebrated hereafter by the terrible and famous revo- 
lution of which it was the victim. This house, the 
most ancient o? Europe, as well as the most power- 
ful and numerous, which could reckon many centu- 
ries o! brilliant existence, and of happy and constant 
fortune : victorious over its enemies, triumphant over 
its rivals, occupying many thrones, covered with 
glory, and full of honors, was destined to give to the 
earth, in the person of its chief, a great and terrific 
example of the fragility of human grandeur. A 
frightful chasm opened all at once beneath the feet of 
Louis XVL which irresistibly engulphed him ; him- 
self, his throne, his power, and his family ! 

There were six ancient grand lay peerages of 
France. 1. The duchy of Burgundy, extinct in 1361, 
and the country finally united by Louis XL 2. The 
duchy of Guienne, or Aquitaine, extinct and finally 
re-united by Charles VIL 3. The duchy of Norman- 
dy, re-united by the forfeiture of John Lackland, under 
Philip Augustus. 4. The county of Toulouse, extinct 
and re-united by inheritance under Philip-le-Hardi, 
5. The county of Champagne, extinct and re-united 
by marriage under Philip-le-Bel. 6. The county of 
Flanders, freed trom vassalage by Francis L in favor 
of Charles V. at the treaty of Madrid, in 1526. The 
or igin of these peerages is quite uncertain, and has 
given rise to various conjectures. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS, i4i 

The wars of the French during the dynasty of 
Hugh Capet, may be classed as follow: 1. The 
crusades, from 1096 to 1270. Their causes were 
the ardent imaginations of the nobility, the adven- 
turous courage and religious zeal of the times, the 
policy of the popes, and the enthusiasm of a subli- 
mated monk. The consequences were the loss to 
Europe of two millions of men, and of two hundred 
millions of money, the impoverishment of the nobili- 
ty, the encroachment of the royal authority, the free- 
dom of the commons, some sparks of knowledge and 
arts brought from Constantinople, the institution of 
the knights of Malta, of the knights Templars, and of 
the Teutonic Order. 2. The wars with England, 
which endured nearly four hundred years. The 
causes were, the conquest of England by William the 
Norman, who was a vassal of the king of France : 
this furnished the first subject of hostilities. The 
marriage of Eleanora, of Guienne, with Henry H. of 
England, to whom she brought many provinces, in- 
creased the disputes between the two crowns. The 
pretensions of Edward HI. to the crown of France, 
of which he took the arms and the title, embittered 
the contest and rendered these wars almost intermi- 
nable. The consequences have been the territorial 
growth of the French kingdom, one of the causes of 
the absolute power of its sovereigns and of the de- 
cline of its great vassals ; a revolution In political 
views, and a rivalry between the two nations, which 
has continued ever since. 3. The wars with Austria, 
which endured for more than two hundred years. — 
The cause of these wars was the immense acquisi- 
tions which the house of Austria suddenly obtained, 
by which many points of contact arose between her 
and France ; first, there was the acquisition of the 
low countries and of Franche Compte by the marriage 



142 HISTORICAL LETTERS* 

of Maximilian with the heiress of Burgundy; se- 
condly, the acquisition of Spain, Naples, and Sicily, 
by the marriage of Philip-le-beau with Jeane-la-FoUe, 
heiress of those countries ; and thirdly, the nomina- 
tion of Charles V. to the empire, in preference to 
Francis I. his rival. The principal events of these 
wars were, for the first century of their continuance, 
in favor of Austria, who enjoyed a decided advantage 
4h politics and arms ; in the following century, on 
the contrary, France exhibited a great superiority in 
the cabinet and the field. A great many brilliant 
combats, and many extraordinary men distinguished 
these two centuries of French history, which also 
gave birth to many celebrated treaties, namely: those 
of Madrid, Cambray, Crespy, Ch.iteau-Cambresis, 
Vervins, Wesphalia, Pvrenees, Nimeguen,Ryswick, 
Utrecht, &c. &c. 4. The wars of Italy, which lasted 
for about sixty years. The causes of these wars were, 
first, the gift of the last prince of the house of Anjou 
to Louis XI. of his claims upon Naples and Sicily : 
secondly, the claims of Louis XIL and Francis L to 
the duchy of Milan. These wars were likewise 
productive of celebrated battles, in which many 
great captains figured. The success of the French 
was vario'is, and the vicissitudes of fortune was so 
rapid that it gave rise to an opinion, for a long time 
entertained in France, that they could easily invade 
Italy, but could never preserve their conquests there. 
5. The civil v/ars under John and Charles V. which 
embrace an epoch of about ten years : these wars 
were occasioned by the errors and misfortunes of 
John, the wickedness of the king of Navarre, the op- 
pression oT the people, and the villanies of Marcel 
and of Le Coq, who caused revolts at Paris. 6. The 
civil wars under Charles VL which were produced by 
a fatal concurrence of characters and circumstances; 



HISTORICAL LETTER5. 14S 

the insanity of the king, the perversity of Isabella, his 
wife, the depravity oi his brother the duke of Orleans, 
the wickedness of his cousin, the duke of Burgundy, 
and the non-age of his son, the dauphin. These wars 
endured for twenty years, and were distinguished by 
the factions of Burgundy and Arinagnac. 7. The 
troubles and wars of religion, which endured up- 
wards of a century : the causes were the malady of 
the times, produced by tlie reformation of Luther and 
Calvin, seconded by the love of novelty in the people, 
the ambition of the grandees, and the vices and in- 
capacity of the sovereigns. These wars include those 
of the league, so remarkable for diabolical policy and 
enormous crimes. 8. The troubles of the Fronde, 
which continued for about five years. These trou- 
bles are now regarded as nothing more than a farce 
to tlie tragedy of the league. Cardinal de Retz has 
given a very copious account of them in his memoirs ; 
having been himself a principal actor in them. They 
are distinguished by party squabbles and contempti- 
ble intrigues, instigated by a medley of the passions 
of love, ambition, and avarice. The conflicts which 
they occasioned, however-, brought into view many of 
those brilliant talents which afterwards adorned the 
fine times of Louis XIV. 

From Hugh Capet to Louis XVI. there occurred 
five examples of the Salique LaWy or exclusion of 
females from the crown : 1 . That of the daughter of 
Louis X. le Hutin, who married the count d'Evreux : 
2. The daughters of Philip-le-Long, of whom the eld- 
est espoused the duke of Burgundy : 3. The daugh- 
ter of Charles-le-Bel, married to the duke of Orleafis : 
4. The daughters of Louis XII. ot whom the eldest 
was married to Francis I. 5. The daughter of Henry 
11. of whom the eldest espoused Philip II. 



144 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Of minorities and regencies there have been ten : 

I. Of Philip I. at eight years, under his uncle the 
count of Flanders : 2. Philip- Augustus, at fifteen 
years, under the count of Flanders, his uncle; 3. Saint 
Louis, at twelve years, under his mother, Blanche of 
Castile: 4. John I. at his birth, under Philip-le- 
Long, his uncle: 5. Charles VI. at twelve years, the 
regency disputed by his four uncles : 6. Charles VIII. 
at thirteen years, under Anne-de-Beaujeau, his sister : 
7. Charles IX. at ten years, under his mother, Catha- 
rine-de-Medicis : 8. Louis XHI. at. nine years, under 
Maria-de-Medecis, his mother : 9. Louis XIV. at five 
years, under his mother, Anne of Austria : 10. Louis 
XV. at six years, under his grand uncle, the duke of 
Orleans. 

Of the States-General, during the Capetian race, 
(of which the form, the nature and the authority were, 
at difterent periods, so very different, that writers are 
much divided upon the subject,) there have been 
thirty-three held in France under fifteen sovereigns : 
under Philip-le-Bel five ; Philip4e-Longtwo; Philip- 
de-Valoistwo ; John II. five : Charles V.one ; Charles 
VI. three ; Charles VII. six ; Louis XI. and Charles 
VIII. two ; Louis XII. and Francis I. two ; Francis 

II. and Henry III. three ; and under Louis XIII. and 
Louis XVI. two. 

In the year 1789 there existed in France thirteen 
parliaments, namely: 1. that of Paris, rendered se- 
dentary by Philip-le-Bel in 1303: 2. of Toulouse, 
rendered sedentary by Charles VII. in 1443 : 3. of 
Rouen, by Francis I. in 1515 : 4. of Besaneon, final- 
ly established by Louis XIV. in 1674: 5. of Greno- 
ble, rendered sedentary by Charles VII. in 1453 : 
6. of Bordeaux, rendered sedentary by Louis XI. in 
1462: 7. of Dijon, rendered sedentary by Charles 
VIII. in 1494: 8, of Aix, established by Louis XIJ; 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 145 

in 1501 : 9. of Rennes, established by Henry II. in 
155S: 1 0. of Fail, established by Louis XIII. in 1620 : 
ll.ofMetz, established by Louis XIII. in 1634: 
12. of Douai, establislied by Louis XIV. in 1686 ? 13. 
of Nancy, established by Louis XVI. in 1777. 

The States-General of France were assemblies of 
the three states or orders of the kingdom, the clergy, 
the nobility and the people. Thej^ used to be called 
together by the king upon the most important att'air? 
of state. This body is supposed to have met for the 
jSrst time in 424, in the reign of Pharan;iond, when 
fhey confirmed the Saliqne Law. The parliaments 
claimed the powers of the States-General ; which the 
crown denied, regarding them as mere courts of jus- 
tice, which occasioned great contests between i\iQ 
throne and these bodies. The convocation of the 
States-General under Louis XVI. was the immedi- 
ate cause of his downfall : unable to control that 
tumultuous assembly, (the crown having lost its in- 
fluence by its vices and eifeminacy,) he became the 
victim of it. 

In the year 1789 there also existed in France thir- 
ty-eight ducal peerages, created at difterent periods 
of time, from 1572 to 1788, and enjoyed by leading 
families, witli estates in the various provinces of the 
kingdom. These high dignities, at first the reward 
of merit, became at Inst the mere attributes of a cor- 
rupted nobility, which the storms of tlie Fi-ench revo- 
lution annihilated in an instant. Most of these distin- 
guished families, previously to the restoration of the 
Bourbons, had fallen beneath the stroke of the guillo- 
tine, been impoverished, become fugitives, or worse. 

Of the provinces of France, Picardy, the Isle of 
France, and Orleanois, were the original domains of 
the crown under Hugh Capet ; Berry was purchas- 
ed by the crown under Philip I. Touraine accrued 



146 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

to it by confiscation under Philip Augustus, as did 
Normandy, by confiscation and conquest, under the 
same prince ; Languedoc was united by inheritance 
under Philip the Hardy ; Champagne by marriage 
under Philip-le-Bel ; Lyonois was acquired by the 
same prince : Dauphiny was united to the crown by 
donation under Philip de Valois ; Poitou, Aunis, Li- 
mousin, and Saintonge, by conquest under Charles V. 
Guienne and part of Gascony by conquest under 
Charles VII. Maine, Anjou, and Provence, by inhe- 
ritance under Louis XL and Burgundy by reversion 
under the same prince ; Bretagne by marriage and 
treaty under Francis L and Marche, Bourbonois, and 
Auvergne, by confiscation under the same prince ; 
Beam, part of Gascony, and Foix, were the patrimo- 
ny of Henry IV. Artois, Alsace, and Roussillon, were 
united byconquestunderLouis XHL Franche-Compte 
and French Flanders by conquest under Louis XIV. 
and Nivernois by the extinction of the feudal system 
under the same prince; Lorraine & Corsica by cession 
and treaty under Louis XV. [The provincial names, 
have been merged in those of departments, which 
are chiefly designated by geographical appellations.] 
Thus stood the kingdom of France previously to 
the late revolution, the causes and events of which 
can only be truly related when the passions of tlie 
present generation have ceased and the judgment of 
posterity has commenced. In 1801 the treaty of 
Luneville terminated the continental war to which 
that revolution gave birth : by this treaty France ac- 
quired an acknowledged right to the low countries, 
to a portion of Germany on the left bank of the Rhine ; 
to Porentruy ; to Avignon, which was ceded by the 
pope ; and to Savoy and Nice. Subsequent to that 
treaty. Piedmont and Liguria have been added to 
the monarchy. In 1802 the treaty of Amiens termi- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 147 

nated the maritime war occasioned by the revolution. 
In 1805 the treaty of Presbourg alone saved the 
house of Austria, after the famous battle of Auster- 
litz. In 1807 the treaty of Tilsit terminated the 
campaign of that year against Prussia, diminished the 
Prussian territory one half; augmented that of Sa:^- 
ony to double its former extent, and elevated it lo 
the royal dignity; reinforced the new federative 
system with the monarchy of Westphalia, and push- 
ed the confederation of the Rhine to the shores of 
the Niemen. 

The American reader, to obtain a pretty accurate 
notion of this confederation of the Rhine, may sup- 
pose the late French emperor to be the president of 
United Europe, and he will not be much in error. — 
The Balance of Powers which existed before the 
French revolution, was a system such as we may 
suppose these States would be without a general go- 
vernment, in which the chief object was to prevent 
any one state rising to a preponderancy: hence, under 
that system, the continent of Europe was a scene of 
wars undertaken for the preservation of the balance 
of power, and of negotiations to adjust it. Napoleon, 
in framing the federative system, made France the 
head of the confederation and himself the chief. It 
is upon this plan that Bonaparte attempted to regu- 
late the commercial code of the European continent, 
as the government of the United States regulates the 
trade of the several states that compose the union ; 
with this material difference, however, that in Europe 
the head of the confederacy was imperial, all the 
branches monarchal, and the system entirelythe result 
of force ; whilst in America the head and members 
of the confederation are republican, and the system 
of the general government the result of a constitu- 



148 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

tion voluntarily adopted and maintained by all the 
states of the Union. 

It would be superfluous to enumerate the compo- 
nent parts of the late French empire. Suffice it to 
say that the French revolution, which overwhelinned 
the Capetian race, broke out in 1789, that it lasted 
^/.lh great turbulence and much vicissitude till 1799, 
vvhen Napoleon Bonaparte was chosen first consul; 
that the same mji was, in 1804, crowned emperor 
of the French by his armies ; and that, during the 
war which commenced in 1803, gained many bril- 
liant victorii;s, subdued or conciliated all the powers 
of continental Europe, except Spain, whose sovereign 
and family he decoyed from Madrid and made pri- 
soners, with a view of planting his brother Joseph 
upon the throne. 

The emperor Napoleon instituted every thing anew: 
a new civil ami criminal code, new titles of nobility, 
new organization of the armies, of the finances ; and 
he propagated new ideas of sovereignty and obedi- 
ence. The forms of a legislative body were preserv- 
ed, but his government was, essentially, a military 
despotism. Among other institutions he established 
twenty-two hereditary duchies, twelve v.hereof were 
in the Venetian country, namely: 1. Dalmatia ; 2. Is- 
tria; 3. Friuli ; 4. Cadore ; 5. Belluno; 6. Conegl ki- 
no ; 7. Ti'eviso ; 8. Feltri ; 9. Bassano ; 1 0. Vicenza ; 
11. Padua; 12, llovigo. There were three duchies 
in Parrna, six in the kingdom of Naples ; and one in 
Massa-Carrara. All these duchies were endowed 
with domains, and one fifteent'i of the revenues of 
tite provinces where they were situated was appro- 
priated to them. 

But the splendid imperial institutions, of power and 
magnificence, which Napoleon had framed, were de- 
stroyed hy the unfortunate residt of his invasion of 



HISTORICAL LETTEBS. 149 

the Russian empire, in 1812. He entered tliat coun- 
try with about four hundred thousand warriors; and, 
after sevei-al blood j battles, captured Moscow. The 
winter season, however, set in early; his army v/as 
distant from his resources, and in the midst of an 
enraged population : compelled to retreat, and inces- 
santly to combat for safety, he was overpowered by 
misfortunes, abandoned by some of his allies, and 
compelled to iiy to Fails to procure fresh supplies of 
men and money. With these, in 1813, he recom- 
menced hostilities, and, at first, victory seemed to 
have returned to his standard. But the nations of 
Europe, smarting under a sense of recent subjugation, 
saw their advantage and redoubled their blows. Af- 
ter prodigious military exertions, partly in Germany 
and partly on the French soil. Napoleon, abandoned 
by his senate and betrayed by some of his genera^-, 
was compelled to abdicate his throne, and the Bour- 
bons were restored. Exiled to the island of Elba, he 
remained there for some time, when, a favorable op- 
portunity occurring, he retuined to France, was re- 
ceived with acclamations by the army and a majority 
of the French people. His second reign, nevertlieless, 
was but short. Europe once more combined against 
him, and his final overthrow was effected, in t'ne year 
1815, at the terrible battle of Waterloo. Abdicating 
a second time, he threw himself upon the generosity 
of the British government, by wh.ich he was detained 
as a prisoner, and is at present held a captive on the 
barren rock of St. Helena. The Bourbon family was 
'again restored, in the person of Louis XViil. who 
bids fair, fi om present appearances, firmly to re-es- 
tablish the Capetian race on the French throne. 

The historians of France are, Gregory of Tours, who 
left an ecclesiastical and profane history from, Ihe 
establishment of Christianity among the "Gauls to ti\e 



150 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

year 595 ; his narrative is simple, credulous, without 
method or order, and his style is that of his century t 
he is considered the father of French history. Fre- 
deregaire, author of a chronicle (undertaken by order 
of Childebrand, brother of Charles Martei) of a very 
barbarous style and method, but precious for its anti- 
quity. Marculie, a monk, who left two books of 
collections of general and local acts of the sovereigns 
of France. Eginhart, secretary and son-in-law of 
Charlemagne, the most polished writer of his time, 
has left a detp.iled life of that prince, and annals of 
France from 741 to 829. Adon, who wrote an uni- 
versal chronicle from the creation of the world to 
* ST5, Nithard, who has left the history of the civil 
wars of Louis-le-Debonnaire. Abbon, who wrote in 
Latin verse the relation of the siege of Paris by the 
Normans. Reginon, who died in 915, left a chroni- 
cle of his own time, particularly esteemed for that 
part wliich relates to Germany. Almoin, who wrote 
a history of France in live books, full oi wonders and 
fables. Fulbert, whose epistles, written in a good 
style, throw much light on the events of his own 
tine: he died in 1028 Ville-Hardouin, has written 
with modesty and candor the taking of Constantino- 
ple by the French, in 1204. Joinville, who wrote 
the life and reign of St. Louis. GuiUaume de Nargis, 
who wrote the life of St. Louis and his son, and died 
in 1302. Froissard, who left a chronicle of tlie prin- 
cipal alfairs of Europe from 1326 to 1400, much es- 
teemed; he was a poet as well as an historian. Mon- 
strelet, who continued the chronicle of Froissard, to 
1452. Jean Juvenal des Ursins, has left the history 
of Charles VI. from 1380 to 1422, and is considered 
partial to the Orleans party. Philip de Commines, 
who wrote memoirs upon the history of Louis XL 
and Charles VIIL from 1464 to 1498, which are ex- 



HISTORICAL LETTEHS, 151 

tfemely valued. Gaugin, a negotiator and historian, 
has left a history of France from Pharamond to 1499 
Paul Emile wrote a history from Pharamond to 
Charles VIII. which, among many faults, has the me- 
rit of clearing away the obscurity of the early parts 
of the French annals. The Dubellays, commanders 
and negotiators, have left the memoirs of their own 
times: one died in 1543, the other in 1559. The 
Du Tillets, one of whom left a very learned chronicle 
from Pharamond to 1547 ; the other a summary of the 
wars with the Albigensis, &c. which is considered very 
precious. The marshal de Montlue, who wrote at 
the age of seventy-five his commentaries, which Hen- 
ry IV. called the Soldier*s Bible. Belleforest, who 
wrote a general history of France down to lv;r4, 
which was continued by Gabriel Chapin to 1590. — 
Castlenau, who died in 159^, a warrior, a gentleman, 
and a negotiator ; he wrote memoirs of his nego- 
tiations, which are considered excellent for the 
history of his own times. Cayet, who has lelt histo- 
rical documents from 1589 to 1604. Pierre de I'Es- 
toile, known by his esteemed journal of Henry III. 
which embraces a period of time from 1574 to 1589; 
he has also given the journal of Henry IV. which has 
been continued by an anonymous writer. Bourdelles 
has left memoirs of the court and private life of 
Chailes IX. Henry III. and Henry IV. of which 
he was an eye witness. President De Thou, who 
wrote in Latin the history of his own time, from 1 545 
to 1607: he is considered among the best of the 
French historians. Mathieu, historiographer of France 
under Louis XlII. whose works extend from Francis 
I. to the reign of the prince under whom he lived. — 
D'Aubigne, who was for a long time beloved of Hen- 
ry IV. but lost his affection by an inflexible and sa- 
tirical disposition ; he was the grandfather of Ma- 



15£ HISTORICAL LETTEKS. 

dame de Maintenon; and left an universal history from 
1550 to 1601. Davila, who wrote in Italian, at Ve- 
nice, a history of the civil wars of France, from Hen- 
ry IT. to the peace of Vervins, in 1598; he is an in- 
teresting writer, and was patronized by Catharine de 
Medecis. Andrew Duchesne has left, aiyion^; other 
performances, a preciou?> collection of ;dl the French 
Fiistorians, from the origin of the monarchy to Philip 
Augustus ; it was continued by liis son to the time of 
Philip-le-Bel. Sully, the celebrated friend of Henry 
VI. and a great statesman ; his memoirs, arranged by 
the abbe de i'EchisejgivejWith great, interest, the reigns 
of Charles IX. Henry III. and Henry iV. The Sairite 
Marthes, celebrated by their genealogical history of 
tiie house of France. Dupleix, historiographer of 
France, wrote memoirs of the Gaels, which is much 
esteemed as an introduction to Fiench history. Pere- 
lixe, who wrote the history of Henry IV. in an easy 
style. Gomberville, who has left a tract upon tlie 
ori.y;in of the French. I^e Laboureur, distinguished 
by his excellent edition of the memoirs of Castelnau. 
The Cardinal de Retz, celebrated by his politics and 
memoirs of the troubles of the Fronde. Mezerai, 
who has given a larjie history of France in three vols, 
folio, and is more distinguislied by the bulk than the 
excellence of his writings. Vittoris Siri, an Italian 
abbe and historiographer of France, chiefly distin- 
guished by his Mercory or history of the times and 
his memoirs. Du Cange, who has left, among a great 
number of learned works, the history of Constantino- 
ple under the French emperors. Madame de Motte- 
ville, favorite of Anne of Austria, has left memoirs 
of that princess. Madem.oiselle de Montpensier, has 
left some speculative memoirs. Father Ansel m, has 
left a genealogical and chronological history of the 
house of France, and of the great otBcers of the crov> n, 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 155 

continued by Diifourny and fathers Ange and Sim- 
plicien. Varillas,has left the history of France from 
the birth of Louis XI. to the death of Henry IK.— 
Saint Simon, has left interesting memoirs upon the 
reign of Louis XIV. and. the times of the regency.-—. 
Le Loiig has left some very excellent historical col- 
lections relative to France. 

Count de Boulanvilliersjias written very well upon 
the history of France. Father Daniel has made some 
critical observations upon the liistojy of Mezeiai, 
which are much esteemed. Le Gendre has written 
upon the history, manners, and customs of the French, 
and is in good repute. Father Montfaucon has left 
monuments of tlie French monarchy in five vols, folio. 
Dubos, negotiator and historian, has given a methodi- 
cal and brilliant critical history upon the establishment 
of the French monarchy. Leaglet Dufiesnoy has left 
many historical works ; he is diffuse, obscure, and 
very agreeable ; his best work is his method of stu- 
dying history. Valley has written a general history 
of France down to Philip-de-Valois, in an easy, sim- 
ple, and natural style; it has been continued by Vil- 
laret and afterwards by Garnier. The President Hai- 
nault, has left a chronological work on the history of 
Fi-ance, and is much esteemed. Duclos has left 
some memoirs, and the life of Louis XL The abbe 
Millot, who died in 1785, has leTt the elements of the 
history of France. The abbe Mabiy, who also died 
in i785, has left many historical monuments, parti- 
cularly his considerations upon French history. Be- 
sides these, there is Voltaire's Age of Louis XIV. and 
that of Louis XV. and the interesting works of An- 
quetil. ♦ 



154 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

LETTER XIX. 

Formation of the Kingdoms and States of Modern 

Europe, after the fall of the Roman Empirey 

Continued. 

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, WALES, IRELAND: 

AT PRESENT FORMING THE UNITED KINGDOMS OF 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 

ENGLAND, still barbarous under tlie name of 
Britain, shared the fcite common to other nations : she 
was subjugated bj tlie Romans in the first century 
of the Christian era, and remained in a state of sub- 
jection nearly four hundred years. 1 ranquil under 
the protection of Rome, the Britons presently aban- 
doned their repugnance to the blessings of peace, 
and, relinquishing the rude exercise of arms, betook 
themselves to the cultivation oi arts more congenial 
to human happiness. Dozing for this period of time 
in the lap of security, they became effeminate; and 
when the Romans,(pressed on all sides by the Bar- 
barians of the North, were obliged to abandon their 
remote possessions and concentre their legions, the 
Britons were unable to oppose the inroads of their 
neighbors the Scots and Picts. In this dilemma they 
had recourse, according to the custom of the times, 
to one description of Barbarians to defend them from 
another ; they called in the Angles and Saxons, who, 
arriving from the coasts of Holland and of Holstein, 
plundered those whom they had promised to defend. 
The Britons, assailed by these perfidious allies, were 
destroyed or dispersed ; the fugitives took shelter 
in the mountainous country of Wales, or emigrated 
to one of the provinces of Gaul, which, from them, 



' HISTORICAL LETTERS. 155 

took the name of Little Britain, and retains it to 
this daj. A striking analogy in the language of the 
two people still attests this catastrophe, at the dis- 
tance of thirteen centuries. Nothing is more com- 
mon than to see the sailors of Wales or Eritanv, 
whom the, chance of war throws into the power of 
each other, astonished to find themselves speaking 
the same language. In the midst of their surprize 
they thank heaven for the singular favor, and enjoy 
the benefit of being understood, without the least 
surmise of the ancient misfortune that occasioned it. 
The Anglo-Saxons, become masters of Britain, 
founded seven kingdoms in their new conquest ; and 
their history, comprised under the title of the Ifep- 
tarchi/y presents nothing but scenes of battles, mur- 
ders, and pillage, the natural consequences of such 
dangerous divisions. About the commencement of 
the ninth centur}^ Egbert, the inheritor or the con- 
queror of all these kingdoms, gave a more settled 
form to the government ; and it is at this epoch that 
we begin to feel interested in the details of the En- 
glish monarchy. Seven families, in succession, have 
since occupied the throYie : the Saxon, the Danish, 
the Norman, the Anjouvine, those of Tudor, of Stu- 
art, and of Brunswick. The three first obtained the 
crown by conquest; the four last reached it by in- 
heritance. It is not necessary to dwell upon the 
Saxons and Danish families ; we lose sight of their 
wars and revolutions in the invasion of the Normans, 
which occasioned a complete change in the laws, 
customs, property, and language. 

Family of nN*ormandy, 

Rollo, chief of one of those troops of northern ad- 
venturers, who ravaged the central parts of Europe 



156 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

during the Hinth and tenth centuries, received from 
Charles-the-Simple, under the title of a duchy, a Con- 
siderable establishment on the western coast of 
France. Kollo and his band tixed themselves in this 
country, which, from them, took the name of Nor- 
mandy. William, surnamed the Bastard, from the 
circumstance of his birth, and the Conqueror, from 
his success in arms, was the heir of this famous Rollo, 
and the sixth in descent from him. Troubles and 
revolutions had, for a long time, agitated the neigh- 
boring island ; and its inhabitants had long been ac- 
customed to derangement in tlie order of royal suc- 
cession ; the vSaxons and the Danes had, in turn, oc- 
cupied the throne: Edward the Confessor, ot the 
Saxon line, having died, such was the aversion of the 
English to the Saxon yoke, tliat they were induced^ 
to elevate to the throne an individual named Harold, 
to the detriment, at the same time, of the oftspring of 
the Saxon family, Edgar Atheling, who w^as only an 
infant, and not equal to the task of governing in tnose 
turbulent times. I^Ieanwhile appeared William the 
Bastard, duke of Normandy; his court had served 
as an asylum to Edward the Confessor, when this 
prince had been unfortunate, and during the prospe- 
rity of Edward he had visited him in London. Wil- 
liam pretended that the grateful monarch had made 
a will in his favor : and it is upon this title, (which 
he never exhibited,) that all his pretensions rest ; but 
the battle of Hastings, in which his rival lost his life, 
was to him a much stronger title. W^illiam reii*;ned 
over subjugated England, and Ijis family possessed 
the crown sixty-nine years. Matiida, the last prin- 
cess of tills house, transferred the succession by mar- 
riage to that of Anjou. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS, 1^,7 

Family of Anjoiu 

Geoffry Plantagenet, who espoused Matilda, was 
count of Anjou; his mother was heiress of Maine ; 
and his father, who had espoused in second marriage 
the heiress of Jerusalem, went to regn in Asia, where 
his posterity of the second bed did not become ex- 
tinct till the third generation. Henry, the son of Ma- 
tilda, the first of the Plantagenents who came to reign 
in England, was, therefore, heir of England and Nor- 
mandy in right of his mother; of Maine, Anjou, and 
Touraine, in riglit of his father ; and to these bene-- 
fits he united immense possessions by marrying Ele- 
onora, heiress of Aquitaine, who brought with her all 
the western provinces of France from the Loire ta 
tlie Pyrennees. It was with these patrimonial ad- 
vantages that the house of Anjou was established irt 
England, wliere it reigned three hundred years, pro- 
duced the most brilliant sovereigns of the monarchy, 
and furnished the most important materials for his- 
tory. Henry II. Edward I. Edward III. and Henry 
V. are princes who are recollected with pleasure.— 
Their victories, their conquests, and their laws, are 
equally worthy of praise and remembrance : whilst* 
on the other hand, the reverses, the misfortunes, and 
the tragical end of this celebrated house, have furnish- 
ed abundant reflections to the politicians and phi- 
losophers of every succeeding age in every country. 
The family of Anjou finished its career on the field 
of battle. It was there thai the house of Tudor, 
which came in by the female line, gathered its bloody 
-spoils. 

Family of Tudor* 

The Tudors, who are asserted by some authors to 
be descended from the ancient princes of Wales, 
O 



158 HISTORICAL LETTERS* 

whilst others will hardly allow them the title of sim- 
ple gentlemen, are indebted for their first instance of 
good fortune to Owen Tudor, who became the hus- 
band of Queen Catherine of France, widow of Henry 
v. This illustrious marriage procured for the son of 
Owen another alliance, still more profitable. Ed- 
mund (that was his name) espoused Margaret of 
Somerset, whose son became, by the contests of the 
two roses, the representative of the Lancastrians and 
heir to the English throne. This family reigned up- 
wards of a century, and among the sovereigns which 
it produced, two more especially occupy the atten- 
tion of history, Henry VHI. so famous by the tyran- 
ny of his government and the capriciousness ol his 
character ; and Elizabeth, admirable for her great 
ability, the extent of her views, and the grandeur of 
her genius. She was the last of her house, and the 
crown passed from her into the family of the Stuarts, 
who were the nearest relations and the true heirs. 

Family of the Stuarts, 

Walter, Seneschal or Steward of Scotland, whose 
office has served as a name for his descendants, had 
espoused the sister and heiress of the last king ; and 
it was by this marriage that the Stuarts were called 
to the throne. No family ever presented such a suc- 
cession of misfortunes as was experienced by this. 
Those who believe in the influence of happy and un- 
happy fortune, may reflect at their leisure upon the 
vicissitude of good and evil whicli distinguishes the 
history of this family. Robert III. second king of 
this house, died oi grief at the imprisonment of his 
son, whom Henry IV. king of England, unjustly de- 
tained. James I. came to the throne after eighteen 
years of captivity in England, and perished in his bed 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 159 

of twenty-six sword wounds inflicted by the hands of 
his subjects. James II. who was king at seven years 
of age, perished by a cannon shot at the siege of Rox- 
burgh. James III. reached the throne when seven 
years old, and perished in battle against his subjects. 
James IV. v^as killed in the battle of Flowdon against 
the English. James V. who was king when one year 
and an half old, died in a war against the English, of 
chagrin at his disasters. A week before his death he 
lost his tv/o sons in one day. Mary, a queen from 
her infancy, perished upon the scaffold, after a cap- 
tivity of eighteen years. The Stuarts then passed to 
the throne of England, but misfortune still accom- 
panied them : Charles I. was decapitated by his 
subjects, and James II. lost the throne by his bigotry. 
The reign of the Stuarts is one of the most stormy 
and important epochs of the English monarchy: it 
is equally interesting in politics and philosophy ; for 
great statesmen and enlightened individuals. This 
family endured for more than one hundred years, and 
was succeeded by that of Brunswick; which occupies 
tlie English throne at this day. 

Faintly of Brunswick^ 

The origin of this family, illustrious by its antiquity 
as well as by its power, is lost in the obscurity of the 
first modern centuries : the genealogists trace it up 
to the Roman Consuls, three hundred years after 
Jesus Christ ; but historians carry it no higher than 
Azo of Este, who lived in the year one thousand. 
This prince, who was margrave of Liguria and of 
Tuscany, espoused in Germany the heiress of the 
Welfs, or Guelphs, a famous Bavarian family. The 
fruits of this marriage were two children : the eldest 
inherited the name and the goods of the mother, and 



160 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

was the founder in Germany of the house of the 
Welfs ; the younger remained in Italy upon his pater- 
nal estates, and continued the house of Este. 

The family of the Welfs, by judicious marriages 
and much good fortune, became in a very little time 
renowned and powerful. Scarcely a century had 
elapsed from its establishment in Germany, when it 
found itself in possession of tlie duchies of Saxony 
and Bavaria, in a much greater extent than they wefe 
in 1806. If to these Germanic possessions we add a 
<2onsiderable inheritance beyond the Alps, that of the 
Countess Matilda, it may be said that the Guelphs, 
in the twelfth century, could proceed from the shores 
of the Baltic to the banks of the Tiber, without going 
beyond the limits of their possessions. But the mo- 
ment arrived when this surprising fortune, which had 
been so rapidly accumulated, was to disappear with 
equal celerity. The house of the Welfs had become, 
by its po^er, an object of universal fear and jealousy. 
Henry the Lion was its chief. Having brought on a 
quarrel with the emperor and the States by his haugh- 
tiness and imprudence, he was put to the ban of the 
empire, proscribed, despoiled of his sovereignties, and 
reduced to the allodial possessions of his house, which 
were thecountry of Brunswick, of Lunenburg, and of 
Hanover. This event occurred about the year 1182, 
It is celebrated in Germany on account of the rich 
spoils which it furnished and the revolutions of for- 
tune that it occasioned. Many sovereignties, some ec- 
clesiastical, some laical, were elevated upon the ruins 
of the Guelphs ; many others were increased at their 
expense ; in fine, many imperial cities, such as Lu- 
beck and Ratisbon, for example, owe their origin to 
this famous catastrophe. The posterity of Azo of 
Este in Germany, after this great misfortune, changed 
their name from Guelph to that of Brunswick, derived 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. !6l 

from their territories, which have since been erected 
into a diichj of the Empire. William, (the Long- 
Sword), tlie third son of the unhappy Henry the Lion, 
was the father of the first duke, and tlie head of 
many branches, who all reigned over morsels of their 
ducal patrimony. At this time there only exist two 
branches oi this illustrious house ; the eldest, which 
remains in Germany ; and the youngest, which occu- 
pies the English throne. 

The cliief foreign wars of England have been three. 
1. That with Wales, which endured until the union 
of the two countries in 1283. 2. That with Scotland, 
which lasted until its union with England in 1603. 3. 
The wars with France, which were continued almost 
incessantly ti-ll the English lost their provinces on 
the continent of Europe. 

The religious troubles were, those of Thomas-a- 
Becket, under Henry II. the famous troubles under 
John Lackland : those of the Wickliffites or Lollards, 
under Edward III. the reformation under Henry VIII. 
of Protestantism under Edward VI. the troubles of 
Catholicism, which was re-established by Mary : of 
Protestantism, under Elizabeth: of the Presbyterians, 
under James and Charles I. of Catholicism under 
James II. 

Of civil wars and troubles, the most remarkable 
were, those between Henry I. and Robert his eldest 
brother : those between Stephen and Matilda : be- 
tween Henry II. and his children : between John 
Lackland and the barons: those between Henry III. 
and the barons : between Edward II. and his wife 
Isabella : the insurrection of Wat Tyler under Rich- 
ard II. the conflict between Richard II. and Henry 
IV. his cousin : the famous civil war of the two roses: 
the insurrection of tanner Ket, under Edward VI. the 
catastrophe of Lady Jane Grey : the wars of Charles 
o 2 



162 ' HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

I. against the Parliament ; the invasion of Charles 11. 
under Cromwell : the expulsion of James II. the first 
enterprise of the Pretender in 1715; and the second 
enterprise of the Pretender in 1745. 

The titles of honor in England are, 1. The Dukes, 
created bv Edward III. 2. The Marquisses, created 
bj Richard II. 3. The Earls, who existed before the 
Norman conquest : 4. The Viscounts, created by Hen- 
ry VI. 5. The Barons, who came in at the conquest: 
These five classes alone form the whole nobility of 
England, and compose the House of Lords in Parlia- 
ment. They are styled my lords, and are magistrates 
and legislators born. Their nobility and its prero- 
gatives do not descend to all the children, but solely 
and inevitably to the eldest amongst them. 

Besides these, there are the Knights Baronets, crea- 
ted by James I. in 1611 : the Knights of the Garter, 
by Edward III. in 1350 : the Knights of the Bath, 
revived by George I. in 1725 : the Knights ot the 
Thistle, revived by Queen Anne in 1 703 : and the 
Knights of St. Patrick, created by George III. in 
1783 

There have been six minorities of the English 
crown, namely, 1. Henry III. at eight years of age, 
under the protectorship of the Earl of Pembroke : 2. 
Edward III. at fourteen years of age, who was under 
the guardianship of a council directed by Isabella : 3. 
Richard II. when eleven years old, under a council 
directed by his uncles : 4. Henry VI. at nine months 
old, under the protectorship of Bedford, his uncle: 
5. Edward V. at twelve years of age, under the re- 
gency of Gloucester, his uncle : 6. Edward VI. at ten 
years of age, under the protectorship of his uncle 
Somerset. 

The Courts of Justice are, the House of Lords, 
which is the Supreme Court : the Court of Chancery, 



HISTORICAL LETl'ERS. 163 

in which the Chancellor is the sole judge : the Court 
of King's Bench, composed of four judges : the Court 
of Common Pleas, composed also of four judges : and 
the Court of Exchequer, likewise composed of four 
judges. These twelve judges of England are nomi- 
nated by the king, and hold their places during good 
behavior. There is, moreover, an ecclesiastical court 
called Doctors Commons. All these courts are held 
in London. With respect to the counties, the twelve 
judges, once or twice annually, proceed through cer- 
tain circuits, two and two, in such a way that all the 
prisons in England are cleared of criminals at least 
once in each year. 

The supreme power of the English monarchy is 
vested in the king and the two houses of Parliament, 
the latter consisting of the Lords and the Commons. 
In ancient times, according to the feudal constitu- 
tion, none but the immediate vassals of the crown 
could be admitted into the legislative assembly: in 
the reign of William the first, these vassals did not 
amount to more than six hundred, and the whole 
land of the kingdom, in property or superiority, ex- 
clusive of the royal demesne, being divided among 
this small number of persons, the original members 
of Parliament were, in general, men of great wealth 
and power. Whilst their riches lasted, tliey very 
willingly attended in Parliament, to court prefer- 
ment, to assert their privileges, or to display their in- 
fluence and magnificence. But in the course of time 
the members of that assembly were subjected to great 
revolutions, their property was dismembered and 
subdivided, their numbers increased, the rank and 
consideration of individuals were impaired, and ma- 
ny of those who had appeared in eminent stations 
were reduced to poverty and obscurity. These 
changes are attributed to three different causes, viz. 



164 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

the constant struggle between the crown and aristo- 
cracy; the advancement of arts and manufactures; 
and the divisions of landed property, by the course 
of legal succession, the cutting off of entails, &c. 
These changes produced a distinction between the 
great and the small barons, that is, between those 
nobles whose opulence enabled them still to attend 
their duty in Parliament and those lesser vassals of 
the crown whose diminished fortunes made them de- 
sirous of being exempted from it. The latter, there- 
fore, were, in the sequel, permitted to send repre- 
sentatives to Parliament, to whose expenses they 
contributed; and this was the first origin oi Knights^ 
of the Shire, This institution was as early as the 
reign of Edward III. After the boroughs had been 
incorporated, and had been raised by their trade to 
a degree of consideration and independence, they 
also began to send representatives to Parliament. 
The first recorded instance of the attendance of the 
Burgesses in Paiiiament, occurs in the 49th year of 
Henry III. but the number was not fixed, nor were 
they accustomed to give a regular attendance until 
the' twenty-third year of Edward 1. when directions 
were given to summon regularly the knights of the 
shires together with the Burgesses, of wliich, after 
the example of the former, two were generally sent 
from each borough; and from that period both these 
classes of representatives continued to be constant 
members of the legislature. The members of the 
great council, under the feudal government, were 
originally divided into two classes, the one composed 
of lay, the other of ecclesiastical, barons: in the con- . 
duct of national business tliey usually held sepa- 
rate conferences among tliemselves, and in joint 
meeting, instead of voting promiscuously, they deli- 
vered, upon the part of each, the result of their pre^ 



HISTORICAL LETTERS'. 165 

vious deliberations: in all public transactions which 
they had occasion to determine, the concurrence of 
both way lield indispensable. Hence, by long custom, 
they became two separate estates, having each a ne- 
gative upon the resolutions of the legislature; when 
the Burgesses were admitted, they, too, obtained a 
separate voice in the assembly, and formed a third 
estate. The Burgesses were the representatives of 
the commercial part of the nation, and from their 
number and the weight of their influence, after they 
came to be regularly summoned to parliament m the 
reign of Edward I. they found it convenient to have 
a different place of meeting from the other members 
of Parliament, and began to form a separate body, 
^vhich was called the House of Commons. The 
Knights of Shires continued for some time after, to 
sit in what now became the House of Peers. Al- 
though the small Barons were, in general, excused 
from personal attendance, yet, as crown vassals, 
they had still a title to vote in Parliament; and such 
of them as attended, even in consequence of an elec- 
tion, were at first considered in the same light with 
the greater nobility. By appearing frequently, how- 
ever, in the character of mere representatives, not 
only elected, but having their charges borne by their 
constituents, tlieir privilege of attending in their 
own right was gradually lost and forgotten. In con° 
sequence of the progressive alienation and division 
of landed property their personal influence was con- 
tinually sinking, while that of the mercantile people 
was rising in the same proportion; and, as these two 
classes were thus brought nearer to a level, the landed 
gentry were often chosen indiscriminately to repre- 
sent either the one or the other. In such a situation 
it became at length an obvious improvement, that 
the deputies of the counties and boroughs, as by the 



166 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

eircumstance of their being representatives, and re- 
sponsible to those who had appointed them, they 
were led into a similarity of procedure, should meet 
in the same house, aiid carry on their deliberations 
in com»non. It is conjectured by Carte the historian, 
that this change was not effected before the latter 
pat t oi the reign of Edward III. The coalition of 
these two orders of deputies may perhaps be regard- 
ed as the oreat cause of the authority acquired by 
the English House of Commons. After the mem- 
bers of Parliament had been accustomed to meet re- 
gularly in two separate places, the three estates were 
gradually melted down and lost, in the division of 
the two houses. The ecclesiastical and lay barons 
were led to promiscuous deliberation, which was 
promoted by the more regular establishment of go- 
vernment; and the progress of knowledge and the 
arts having diminished the power of the clergy, they 
seldom ventured a contest with the nobles, so tliat 
the two orders gradually sunk into the present Hcuss 
of Lords. The House of Commons, from the nature 
of its original establishment, (which was to furnish 
supplies to the crown,) obtained the sole power of 
bringing in money bills: in this business they were 

tuided by the instructions of their constituents, who 
xed the rate of assessment to which the representa- 
tives should consent. These instructions served to 
regulate the conduct of the members of the House of 
Commons, and precluded all deliberation: On these 
money-bills, therefore, the maivimutn o^ which was 
fixed by the constituents of the House of Commons, 
the House of Peers had only a simple assent or ne- 
gative, and this is supposed to have been the origin 
of the practice of money-bills originating in the po- 
pular branch of the legislature. A-- the commons in- 
terfered by degrees in legislation, and in various other 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. l6f 

branches of the business, their interpositions became 
too extensive and complicated to permit that they 
should be regulated by the opinion of constitutents 
living at a distance. In consequence of more liberal 
vievi^s, it came also to be considered as the duty of 
each representative to promote the good Oi the na- 
tion at large, even in op] osition to the interest of 
that particular community which he represented. 
I'he instructions, therefore, of constituents, were laid 
aside, or regarded as prod ucing^ no obligation, upon 
any set of deputies, to depart from the dictates of 
their own conscience. Upon the establishment of 
the two houses of Parliament, the supreme judiciary 
power was, on the other hand, appropriated to the 
House of Peers. This latter division of power was 
thus appropriated on account of the members of the 
House of Peers holding their seats in their own right, 
which the representatives did not, and from the in- 
structions to which the represent;atives were liable ; 
it being impossible for their constituents to instruct 
them on the subject of a law-suit, with the particulars 
of which they were unacquainted. The Peers, sitting 
in their own right, had the liberty of forming their 
opinions on the spot, and, by an immediate investiga- 
tion of the circumstances, were capable of deciding 
from the impressions made upon their own minds. 
The House of Lords being thus constituted the su- 
preme tribunal, the right of impeachment very ra- 
tionally fell into the hands of the Commons. 

The House of Lords is composed of an unlimited 
number ov English, of sixteen Scotch, and thirty-two 
Irish Peers: the House of Commons of four hundred 
and eighty-nine English members, chosen without 
any reference to local population; of forty-five Scotch 
members, twenty-four Welch members, and of one 



i68 HISTORI0AL LEtTERS. 

hundred Irish members. Scotland has thirty-three 
counties, England forty, Ireland thirty-two, and 
Wales twelve. The territory of Wales was united 
to that of England in 1282 by Edward 1. and thence- 
forward the King's eldest son has borne the title of 
Prince of Wales : A legislative union was formed 
between the two countries under Henry VIII. in 
15S7. The territorial union of Scotland with Eng- 
land took place under James I. in 1G03, and the le- 
gislative union under Queen Anne in 1706. The 
territorial union of Ireland with England under Hen- 
ry II. in 117 2, and the legislative union under George 
III. in 1800. 

Exclusive of Ceylon and many other colonies, the 
Antilles, Canada, &c. the extent and population of 
the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, 
were, in 1801, about fifteen thousand square leaguCvS 
and fourteen millions of inhabitants; their immediate 
possessions in the Indies thirty-seven thousand 
square leagues and twenty-three millions of inhabi- 
tants ; and their allies and tributary vassals in the 
same quarter, embraced about forty thousand square 
leagues and eighteen millions of inlmbitants. In 1800 
the commerce of England employed eighteen thou- 
sand eight hundred and seventy-seven vessels, com- 
puted at one million nine hundred and five thousand 
four hundred and thirty-eight tons, and employing 
fortj^-three thousand six hundred and sixty one sea- 
men. In 181S, the debt of the British nation was 
computed at about six hundred millions of pounds 
sterling ; amounting to two billions six" hundred and 
forty millions of dollars of the United States. 

England, which, properly speaking, is onl}'^ a por- 
tion 0= the island of Britain, serves, occasionally, as a 
denomination for the whole British empire. The 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 16^ 

present Parliament, which is called the Imperial 
Parliament^ is the only legislative body of the nation. 
Certain countries are visited for tlieir monuments : 
others for the mildness of their climate ; and some 
for the charms of society. But England is admired 
on account of her political institutions, her commer- 
cial operations, and the extent of her finances ; and 
in these aspects she unquestionably presents one of 
the most interesting objects of either ancient or mo- 
dern times : Her commerce is immense, her credit 
incalculable, owing as much to the vastness of her 
resources as to the nature of her government. Her 
colonies are gigantic ; their extent and their popula- 
tion surpass those of the parent country. England 
reckons, in her own bosom, simple individuals who, 

I under the name of a company ^ possess in the Indies 
a country more extensive, more populous, and richer 
than lierself The British empire, which elevates 
itself in the midst of the ocean, seems formed to 
rule the seas. Its situation, its habits, its genius, all 
conspire to give to it the sovereignty of that element ; 

\ and it is on this account that Great Britain is ranked 
among the first powers of Europe. She forms, with 
France, the two great weights of the political ba- 
lance, with which combine the other powers of Eu- 
rope, following their politics, their decisions and their 
■views. This circumstance has established between 
the two countries a natural jealousy and constant ri- 
valry, which neither the habitual communication nor 
the reciprocal esteem of the two people can extin- 

X guish; but which the least excitement suffices, on the 
contrary, to increase to the highest degree ol irrita- 
tion. This inevitable evil, however, is not without 
its benefits : it nourishes the glory and the fine ac- 
tions of the two countries : it developes and keeps 
in motion, without cessation, all their faculties : it 
P 



irO mSTORieAL LETTERS. 

confirms their love of country, perfects their indus- 
try, animates discovery, enlivens the genius of men 
of letters, and promotes the arts and the sciences ; 
and, in this point of view, the national rivalry almost 
ceases to be an evil, and may be almost considered 
as a blessing. No reflecting Englishman or French- 
man can heartily wish for the total destruction of 
either England or France by tiie power of one or the 
other, because all history proves that the overthrow 
of the vanquished is soon followed by ihe ruin of the 
vanquisher. 

The contests betv/een Scotland and England, be- 
fore the union, were generally for superiority ; and 
although the genius of Scotland sometimes brighten- 
ed with success, yet that of England commonly pre- 
vailed. These contests produced many considerable 
men on both sides — but it was in the wars with 
France that the greatness of the English character 
was principally displayed. The battles of Cressy, of 
Poictiers, and of Agincourt, will forever immortalize 
the English name. The war of the two roses, was a 
conflict between two branches of the royal family for 
precedency, and lasted for tlurty years: it terminated 
in the marriage of the heiress of the House of York 
with Henry VII. wlio was of the House of Lancas- 
ter, after the almost total destruction of the members 
of both families. 

Ireland, of which the obscure annals lose them- 
selves in the night of time, was, of all the countries 
adjacent to England, the first to be conquered and 
the last to be incorporated. When the Danes and the 
Normans ravaged the western coasts of Europe, it 
was the first to fall into their hands ; but Ireland 
owes to these barbarians her first steps towards civili- 
zation ; they laid the foundations of her first cities ; 
Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, Wexford, and Cork, 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 171 

were their work. From that time more than three 
hinidred years passed away under the domination of 
these first conquerors, when civil dissentions and lo- 
cal quarrels among their descendants brought upon 
them a new invasion and a new race of masters : it 
was that of the English, who, conducted by Richard 
Strongbow^ Earl of Pembroke, and other adventurers 
ofthat nation, made a descent on the island and soon 
subdued it. After some time, in which policy as well 
as arms vras emplo^^ed to secure the conquest, Ireland 
was declared a fief of the crown of England; and 
since that period her history has formed a part of 
that of England. The population of Ireland, estimated 
at five millions of inhabitants, embraces about three* 
Catholics for one Protestant ; and the Protestants 
being the dominant party, that is, the minority 
exercising the pov.er of the State, there is a per- 
petual agitation of the country by the efforts of 
the Catholics to regain their rights and the contri- 
vances of the Protestants to keep them in a state of 
subjugation. 

The principal English Historians are, Ingulph, Se- 
cretary of William the Conqueror, and the first His- 
torian after the conquest : William of Poictiers, 
Chaplain to the conqueror, who has left an esteemed 
history of the conc[uest : William of Malmsbuiy^ 
much esteemed ; Matthew Paris, a celebrated histo- 
rian, who concludes v/ith Henry III. ^latthew of 
Westminister, has culled the flowers of his predeces- 
sors, and concludes in 1307 : Froissard, who died in 
1402, and was educated at the court of Edward III. 
Caxton, who introduced printing into England, and 
has left a general history down to 1483 : Sir Thomas 
More, chancellor under Henry VIII. who was deca- 
pitated in 1535, has written very finely tlie reign of 
Edward Y. and part ofthat of Richard III. Polydore 



172 jaisTomcAL letters. 

Virgil, remained forty years in England, the most 
elegant writer of his time, but not the most faithful : 
.llollingshed, who died in 1580, one of the most 
esteemed chroniclers of his time : Buchanan precep- 
tor of James VI. the best Scotchwriter, eloquent and 
judicious, but much the enemy of the court : vStow, 
who spent forty years in the judicious collection of 
historical materials : Speed, author of the best Eng- 
Sisli Chronicle, which comes down to James I. Camb- 
den, famous hy his Britannia, or opinion of the in- 
habitants, laws, &c. has left an excellent history of 
Elizabeth: Lord Bacon, vidio died in 1626, has left 
'ihe history of Henry VII. much esteemed : Sir R. 
•f^otton, whose name oudit to be held in honor by all 
the friends of science, devoted forty years to the col- 
lection, at a great expense, of a mass of manuscripts, 
which at this time compose one of the most precious 
monuments of England : Sir H. Spelman, famous for 
his Glossary, a real treasure of ancient customs and 
English constitutions : Sir U. Baker, author of a 
chronicle, died in 1644: Lord Herbert, who has 
written the reign of Henry VIII. Sir S. Dewees, has 
left a journal of the Parliament under Elizabeth. 
Selden, a man of prodigious science, famous by his 
work on titles of honor : Buck, under Charles I. the 
first avenger of tlie memory of Richard III. since fol- 
lowed by Horace Walpoie and many others, who no 
longer leave a doubt of the injustice with v/hich that 
prince has been overwhelmned : Eikon Basilike, the 
best and most complete justification of Charles I. 
written by himself: Rushworth, secretary of Lord 
Fairfax, is very precious with respect to the affairs of 
his own time : Lord Clarendon, chancellor under 
Charles I J. and father-in-law of James II. has left a 
celebrated history of the Rebellion : Whitlocke, of 
the parliamentary party, lias left authentic monu- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 1* ^ 

ments oftlKanv^-s; of his time : Rymer, who died in 
1713, has left the faiuQus Frfidera, or collection of 
public acts ; he was historiographer to William III. 
Burnet, Bishop of »Salisbury, celebrated for his his- 
tory of Reformatit-n from Henry VIII. to 1559; he 
is very severe agait^t Popery : Rapin of Thoiras, a 
French refugee, who lied in 1725, a judicious writer i 
Carte, very zealous foithe Stuarts ; has left a gene- 
ral history that is much esteemed : Goldsmith, who 
died in 1774, has made m Abridged History for the 
Schools : Hume, wlio died in 1776, ranks among the 
most celebrated historians: for the graces of his style, 
the moderation of his principles, and the wisdom of 
his reflections : Doctor Robert Henry, who died in 
175^1, has left a history of Great Britain upon a new 
plan, much esteemed : Robertson, who died in 1797, 
jo well known by liis history of Charles V. has writ- 
ten the history of Scotland. 

\ cannot close this letter, without adverting to the 
curous circumstance relative to Richard III. The 
longiistof evil deeds with which Richard has been 
repnached, has gradually disappeared under the 
ingeiious developments of Horace Walpole and 
othc's : the assassin, the poisoner, the tyrant, and 
the usurper, appear now to have been a prince va- 
liait and just, lawfully called to the throne, and 
cowned by the desire of the nation ; his sole crime 
sems to have been his overthrow and destruction b\ 
aiostile faction: the historians of his happy rival 
pinted him according to their caprice or their in- 
trest ; whilst terror or death prevented any one 
fr»m defending him. This singular discovery at the 
^amt time it proves how long and how completely 
he ^vo•ld has-been imposed on, admonishes us to re- 
ceive w*b increased caution the statements of party 
writers. The profession, the employment, or the 



^^^ HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

sect of a writer, inevitably influenr'^ ^'-^ narrations 
and perverts his opinions. C. 



LETTER XX. 

Formation of the R7ngdons of Modern Eiirop&i 
after the fall of the Itomati Empire — Continued, 

SPAIN. 

^ SPAIN is bounded to the northeast by tie i*y- 
rennees ; Poitugal forms a pirt of its western frou 
tier; tlie Mediterranean to the right and the ocean to 
the left, wash its shores in every other direction. Its 
climate is warm, its temperature happy ; and its soil, 
although in general sandy, is not niggardly ujder , 
the hand of the industrious cultivator. The ciron^ 
the orange, the olive, and the mulberry, cover it» nu- 
merous mountains and its smiling vallies. Spaii has 
in its bosom mines of gold and silver; on its suface 
are to be found celebrated vines and famous hores ; 
its wool is the finest of Europe: It has coloiies 
which have furnished it with immense treasures; ts 
coasts are lined with excellent ports, numerousi- 
vers irrigate the land, and nature has profusely sw- 
plied it with the means of defence; yet, with all thee 
advantages, it is very far from possessing, in a p»> 
portionate degree, tlie military importance of France, 
the maritime influence of England, the popt»-'atio& 
the activity, the commerce, in a word,-the pj-^speri^ 
©f either. The causes of this difference *^'J'l p70- 
bably be found in the rigid adherence o^ its govern- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 175 

ment to the forms of ajiticiuity, in the predominance 
of a sellish hierarchy and a gloomy suj»erstition, in 
the paralyzing influence of a monopolizino- colonial 
policy, and in that siipineness and corruption which 
all tliese have a tendency to produce. 

Peter the great used to say that the arts and the 
sciences make the tour of the world ; and the same 
remarkmay be made ofthe rank and the genius of 
nations] each one has its period of glory, when it 
eclipses or rules over others. Spain enjoyed this 
high privilege until the time of Louis XIV, who 
wrested it from her. It took is birth in the days of 
Isabella, and was carried to Hs greatest height under 
Charles V. I ntil about the middle of the seven- 
teenth century the Spaniards gave the tone to Eu- 
rope ; they furnislied tlie models of politeness and 
of magnilicence ; their gallantry became proverbial ; 
their language was considered as a part of liberal edu- 
cation, their modes were followed, and their litera- 
ture was cultivated. At one mqinent Spain held in 
a state of subjugation a great portion of the New 
World, and made the Old World tremble for its in- 
dependence. At this instant she experiences a sad 
and cruel reverse ! 

The modern kingdom of Spain was formed ofthe 
inheritance of Isabella, of that of Ferdinand, and of 
the acquisitions which they made after their union, 
I will particularize them in proper order. 

J. Old Castile. The first kings of Asturias, in ex- 
tending their dominion at the expense ofthe Moors, 
placed in Old Castile depiendent counts, who served 
as a rampart or advance-guard to their frontiers : 
One of these, Ferdinand Gonsalvo, the hero of his 
time, and for whom the lustre of his fine actions ac- 
quired the name of great, became, towards the middle 
of the tenth century, independeat and hereditary 



1T6 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

count of all Caslile. His descendants succeeded him 
in this country, freed from the domination of the 
kings of Asturias or of Leon, until the third genera- 
tion, w hen Elvira, his great grand daughter, convey- 
ed it to Sancho the Great, king of Navarre, her hus- 
band. Castile was left, by the same Sancho, to Fer- 
dinand, his second son, with the title of kingdom. 
Such are the origin, the progress, and the different 
circumstances, which was the primitive domain of 
Isabella's inheritance. Not veiy fertile, and thinly 
peopled, it derives its principal revenue from its 
wool, which is much esteemed. 

2. JS'^eiv Castile. This is an extensive and fine 
province, the fruit of the conquests of many kings of 
Castile, particularly of Alphonso VI. who dethroned 
the Moorish king of Toledo, and took that city, Ma- 
drid, and many other places. New Castile, fertile 
in wine and grain, notwithstanding the aridity of the 
soil, which is not well supplied with water, contains 
the most beautiful buildings and the finest palaces 
of the kingdom : the environs of Madrid are em- 
bellished by the superb palace of the Escurial, the 
magnificent royal house of St. lldefonso, the delight- 
ful residence of Aranjuez, and the charming man- 
sions of Buen-Retiro and del Pardo. 

3. Mtiirias, Leon, and GaUicia. The Moors, 
having overthrown the monarchy of the Visigoths, 
and inundated Spain, Felagius, of the blood royal, es- 
caped the torrent, and took shelter in the mountains 
of Asturias. His asylum became the cradle of the 
Spanish monarchy : he there reigned under the title 
of king of Asturias. His victories, those of Alphonso 
I. his son-in-law, and those of many of his successors, 
extended the new dominion into GaUicia and Leon. 
The descendants of Pelagius reigned over this coun- 
try under the successive titles of kings of Asturias, 



ftlSTOmeAL LETTERS. ITT 

ol" Ovieclo, and of Leon, until the twelfth generation, 
when Veremond III. the last amongst them, was kil- 
led, in 1036, in an action against Ferdinand the 
Great, kingof Castile, his brother-in-law, who claim- 
ed his kingdom in right of , his wife. Leon has since 
served, on many occasions, as a portion to the young- 
er branches of the kings Castile, and formed a se- 
parate kingdom. Finally, the marriage of Berenger 
and Alphonso IX. united them, for the last time, upon 
the head of St. Ferdinand, their son, about the yeav 
1230. 

The province of Asturias, which gives its name to 
the heir apparent, is full of forests and mountains ; 
it produces corn, fruits, and excellent wines; it con- 
tains mines of gold, of mineral dyes ; and its breed 
of horses is remarkable for strengh and swiftness. 

Galiicia is mountainous, not very fertile, and the 
air is humid ; it produces grain, oil, good wines, and 
a breed of horses and mules is there raised that is 
much esteemed ; it contains valuable mines, and has 
some convenient seaports. 

' Leon presents pretty near the same aspect and 
yields nearly the same productions. 

4. Estvemadura, was partially wrested from the 
Moors by different kings of Leon and of Castile. Al- 
phonso IX. took Badajoz, its capital, about the year 
1230. This province was subject to tlie kingdom of 
Leon. It abounds in vines and pasturage. 

5, Jindaluaia^ separated by a chain of mountains 
from New Castile, mms conquered from tiie Moors by 
tiie successive victories of many Castilian monarchs, 
and principally by St. Ferdinand, who took posses- 
sion of Cordova and of Seville. This province is the 
most fertile and the most commercial of Spain : its 
grain, its oil, its fine wines, and its celebrated horses, 
have occasioned its being called the granary, the eel- 



178 HISTORICAL LEFfERS. 

lar, and the stable of Spain. Its mountains contain 
mines of quicksilver, of copper, of antimony, of lead, 
and of the loadstone. 

6. Murcia. St. Ferdinand, pursuing the advantages 
wliich he had obtained over the Moors, sent his son, 
afterwards Alphonso X. against the king of Murcia,- 
who, attacked in another quarter by the king of Gre- 
nada, surrendered his kingdom to the power oi the 
Castilians. Alphonso, become king, completed and 
consolidated the acquisition of this fine province. 
Murcia produces in abundance all sorts of excellent 
fruits ; oranges, citrons, olives, &c. its wine is very 
good ; honey is found tliere, and the sugar-cane, and 
plenty of mulberry trees ; these enable the inhabit- 
ants to furnish immense productions of silk, which 
constitutes the chief part ol their wealth. 

7. Biscay, This province, which formerly bore 
the name of Cantabria, and which made part of tlie 
kingdom of Pelagius, enfranchised itself by degrees 
from the kings of Leon, and subsisted in a kind of in- 
dependence under the successive domination of the 
familes of Haro, of Lara, oi Lacerda, and was finally 
reunited by Henry II. in 1376, notwithstanding the 
reclamations of the count of Alencon, who had es- 
poused Maria de Lacerda, heiress of the house of 
Lara by her mother. Biscay, rude, mountainous, but 
nevertheless quite agreeable, produces little grain, 
but abundance of fruits ; its principal trade is in iron, 
of which great quantities are found in its mountains, 
in wool, in saffron, and in rosin, procured from the 
forests of pine with which it is covered. 

These seven divisi<vas constituted the inheritance 
of Isabella. That of Ferdinand is comprised in the 
five following. 

1. Jlrragon, which takes its name from a little 
river that empties itself into the Ebi'o, has the same 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 179 

origin as the kingdom of Navarre, of which it was a 
dependence with the title of county, until Ramirez 
received it as a patrimony from Sancho fne Uidiid, 
his father, with the title of kingdon], towards the 
year 1033. This country is dry, full of mountains, 
thinly peopled, and unproductive ; biit it abounds in. 
iron mines. 

2. Catalonia was conquered from the Saracens by 
Charlemagne. The governors whom he placed there 
profited of the tumultuous reigns of his successors to 
make themselves hereditary sovereigns. He who 
governed about the year 1137 espoused the heiress of 
Arragon, and this marriage produced the union of the 
two countries. Catalonia, although mountainous, is 
fertile in grain, in wine, and in fruits : its inhabitants 
are active, laborious, and good soldiers. 

3. Valencia and Majorca were conquered from the 
Moors by James I. Valencia is, perhaps, the most 
agreeable province of Spain ; the air is salubrious and 
the temperature delightful ; the country abounds in 
rice, in flax, in pil, in wine, and the sugar-cane. As 
to IMajorca and its dependencies, formerly known 
under the name of the Balearic Islands, they abound 
in corn, in wine, and in oil. 

4. Sardinia was conquered by James II. who, as 
well as his successors, found itdiflicultto keep it in a 
state of subjugation to the Arragonese: it was detach- 
ed from the Spanish monarchy during the war of the 
succession, and conveyed to the house of Savoy, who 
still possess it. The air is thick and unwholesome, 
the ground fertile, and the whole island susceptible 
of very great improvement. 

5. Sicily. This island formed part of the inherit- 
ance of Ferdinand ; but as its history is so closely 
connected with that of Naples, which was an acqui- 
sition of the Spanish crovvn after the union of Fer- 



18@ HISTORICAL tETTES. 

dinaiul and Isabella, I shall speak of tliem botU to- 
gether. 

The south of Italy, after having borne its part in 
the revolutions and divisions of that unfortunate 
peninsula, finally formed itself, towards the end of 
the eleventh century, into a regular power, which has 
descended to our times under the name of the king- 
dom of the Two Sicilies. This power owes its origin 
to the children of Tancred oi Hauteville, a noble 
Norman, descended from Rollo I. duke of Norman- 
dy. Their exploits against tlie Saracens gave birth 
to many principalities : a great portion of these was 
united in a gi-andson of one of them, who caused 
himself to be crowned. His house gave five sove- 
reigns : that of Suabia, which succeeded by marriage 
and by conquest, gave four ; tliis last was driven out 
and destroyed by the first houirc of Anjou, called in 
.by the Popes, who v/ere the lords paramount of Na- 
ples and Sicily ; but then these two crowns were 
separated ; the house of Anjou only reigned over Na- 
ples, and that of Arragon, pursuing the rights of Con- 
stance, daughter of Mainfroy, seized upon Sicily by 
means of the Sicilian vespers. The house of Anjou 
gave seven sovereigns to Naples : one of them, Joan, 
adopted the second house of Anjou in France, to the 
prejudice of her own branch ; but Durozzo, her 
cousin, caused her to be strangled, and succeeded to 
the crown. There were then two houses of Anjou, 
bearing, at the same time, the title of king of Naples ; 
the first, which continued actually to reign, and the 
second, which was only titulary. On the extinction 
of the first, Alphonso the fifth, king of Arragon and 
of Sicily, seized upon Naples, and united anew 
the two crowns, which had been so long separated ; 
he left them to Ferdinand, his natural son ; but this 
inheritance was disputed by the kings of France, in 



HISlOiUCAL LKTTEKS. 181 

virtue of the pretensions of the house of Anjou, 
and by the kings of Arragon, tise le«ritimate heirs of 
Aiphonso the fifth. Then the famous expeditions of 
Charles VIII. and of Louis XII. took place; the 
latter conquered Naples in concert with Ferdinand 
the Catholic, and these afterwaids had a contest for 
the spoils, when the kin^:; of Arragon remained sole 
master. At the death of this prince the two Sicilies 
followed the fate of the Spanish monarchy, and fell, 
by marriage, to the house of Austria. Under this 
house, Naples, oppressed with taxes, broke out into 
the famous revolt of 1647; and Sicily, pushed to ex- 
tremity by the profligacy of the government, did the 
same in 1674. The insurrection of Naples is par- 
ticularly celebrated by the origin and fate of its 
chief: his name wasMazaniello, who, from a wretch- 
ed fisherman, rose, ail at once, to the command of 
more than two hundred thousand men, who were 
blindly obedient to his most extravagant caprices. 
He soon, however, became the victim of the prevail- 
ing disorders. The duke of Guise, profiting of these 
troubles, repaired to Naples, and endeavored to 
establish himself there; but his enterprise wa<4 un- 
fortunate ; he was made prisoner, and his party was 
exterminated. As to Sicily, she implored the aid 
of France, M'ho assisted her for some time with 
men, with ships and money, and concluded by en- 
tirely evacuating the island in 1678, suffering it again 
to fall into the hands of its masters. On the ex- 
tinction of the Spanish branch, the treaty of I'trecht 
gave Naples to a German branch, and Sicily to the 
duke of Savoy; but in 1719, by anew arrange- 
ment, the duke of Savoy received Sardinia in ex- 
change, and the crown of Sicily was once more 
united to that of Naples. Finally, in 1755, the 
treaty of Vienna wrested the kingdom from the 

Q 



182 HISTOlllCAL LETTEHS. 

house of Austria, in order to give it to Don Carlos, 
son of Philip V. Don Carlos having arrived, hv 
the death of his brothers, to the Spanish tiirone, and 
tlie terms of the treaty not admitting the union of 
the two kingdoms, he delivered up tlie kingdom of 
Siciljto Ferdinand, his second son, who occupies it 
at this time. The air of Sicily is very good, and 
the soil so productive tliat the Pheniciansgave it the 
name of the perfect island; and at tliis day it is 
called the Garden of Italy. 

The following provinces, exclusive of Naples, 
v/ere the acquisitions of the Spanish crown under 
Ferdinand and Isabella: 

1. Roussillon. John the second, king of Arragon, 
embarrassed by the revolt of the Catalans, mortgag- 
ed this province to Louis XI. for a considerable 
sum. Ferdinand the Catholic profited of the ex- 
pedition of Charles VIII. into Italy to regain it. 
The treaty of the Pyrenees annexed it to France, 
by whom it had been conquered. 

2. Grenada, was the last possession the Moors 
occupied in Spain, of which they were dispossessed 
in 1492, by the united arms of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, seven hundred and eighty years after their 
invasion, having at one time subjugated nearly all 
Spain. The air of this province is mild, and the 
soil very fertile in corn, in wine, in oil, in pome- 
granites, in citrons, oranges, silk-worms, &c. 

3. A'*avarre, This province, which, like the rest, 
was subjected to the Moors after their invasion, 
was freed from them, as well as Arragon and Cata- 
lonia, by the victories of Charlemagne : Under the 
turbulent and feeble reign of Louis Debonnaire, his 
son, Navarre selected for its chief Inigo Arista, 
couRt of Bigorre. The sovereignty of Navarre, 
which reckoned Arragon among its dependencies. 



HISTORICAL LE'ITKRS. 3 83 

remained in tlie fan)ily of Bij*;orre until its extinc- 
tion. The last princess of this illustrious house, 
.^which gave kings to all the thrones of SjDain, 
brought Navarie to the house of Chamjjaiine: this 
latter transmitted it to the Capetians in the direct 
line, from v/hom it passed successively to the farjii- 
lies of Evereux, of Arra^Jion, of Foix, and of Aibrtt, 
when Fei'dinand the Catholic, profiting- of a favora- 
ble occasion, seized upper Navarre and united it to 
the crown of Spain. 

The kingdom of Spain, before and since the inva- 
sion of I'Napoleon Bo:'aparte, included fourteen {>i-o 
\'inces (with the llalearic islands) of all which 
Madrid was the metropolis. These provinces were 
Galiicia, Astm-ias, Biscay, Navarre, Arragon, Cata- 
lonia, Leon, Old Castile, Estremadura, New Castile, 
Valencia, Andalusia, Grenada, and Murcia. 

The late condition of Spain formed a melancholy 
contrast to her former reputation in arms, and the 
spirit of freedom which the Spaniards manifested 
ajivalnet tho encroachments of tluur princes. The 
Vandals and Goths, who overturned the Roman 
power in Spain, establislied a form of government, 
and introduced customs and laws, perfectly similar 
to those which were establislied in the rest of Eu- 
rope by other tribes of Barbarians; Society advanc- 
ed there by the same stops and seemed to hold the 
same course as in the otiier nations of that quarter 
f the world ; but a sudden stop was put to this pro- 
i;ress I'y tlie invasion of .the . Saracens or Moors 
from Africa, A. D. TIS, when, having subdued the 
greatest part of Spain, ihi^.j introduced the Maho- 
metan religion, the Arabic langua^^e, the manners of 
the East, together with that taste for the arts, and 
that love of elegance and splendor, which the Ca- 
liphs hail begun to cultivate among their subjects. 



184 HISTORICAL LETfEUS. 

The Gothic nobles, who disdained to submit to the 
Moorish joke, fled for refuge to the inaccessible 
mountains of Asturias, whence, sallying forth, after 
the most persevering efforts for nearly eight centu- 
ries, and fighting about three thousand seven hun- 
dred battles, the Moors were driven out A. D. 1492. 
As the several provinces of Spain were wrested 
from the Moors by the Christians at different times 
and under different leaders, almost every province 
was formed into a separate kingdom, and the capi- 
tals of these several kingdoms could boast of a 
throne and the presence of a monarch. By con- 
quest, marriage, and succession, however, the petty 
sovereignties were gradually diminished, until 
about the year 1481, by the fortunate marriage of 
Ferdinand and Isabella, the former the hereditary 
monarch of Arragon, and the latter raised to the 
throne of Castile by tiie affection of her subjects, all 
llie Spanish crowns were united, and descended in 
the same line. Previously to this marriage the pov/- 
er of the kings of Spain was very much ciicum- 
scribed : In the expeditions against tlie Moors, the 
Christian princes were compelled to reward tlieir 
nobles with portions of the conquered territory, 
which gave to them a degree of splendor and impor- 
tance nearly e([ual to that of the princes them- 
selves ; this naturally made them bold and indepen- 
dent; and whilst, on the one hand, the nobility 
overawed the monarch, the influence of the cities 
held him in check on the other, so that lie was redu- 
ced almost to a cyp!»er. llie powers of the king 
were greater or less in different provinces, accord- 
ing to the different constitutions of the CortcF, or 
parliament. In general, however, the executive 
part of the government was committed to the king, 
with a limited prerogative : the legislative authontj' 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 185 

resided in the cortes, which was composed of the 
iiobilitj, the dignified ecclesiastics, and the represen- 
tatives of the cities. The members of tlie three dif- 
ferent orders who had a ri^ht of suffrage met in one 
place, and deliberated as one collective body, the 
decisions of wliichwere regulated by the sentiments 
of the majority. The right of imposing taxes, of 
enacting laws, and of redressing grievances, belong- 
ed to this assembly : and in order to secure the 
assent of the king to such statutes and regulations as 
were deemed salutary or beneficial to the kingdom, 
it was usual in the cortes to take no step towards 
grantinj> money until all business relative to the 
public welfare was concluded. The deputies from 
the cities in these bodies were persons of great con- 
sidera'ion, and scarcely inferior to the nobility in 
their political influence. Ferdinand laid the foun- 
dation for the advancement of the royal authority 
and the subversion of the liberties of Spain, by in- 
troducing greater splendor into his court, by institu- 
ting Tiew orders of knighthood, by employing men of 
abilities, who were not nobles, in public affairs, and 
by countenancing various establishments of a politi- 
cal nature, the principal one of which was the Socie- 
ty of the Holy Brotherhood. This association, 
administering justice in the name of the king, cur- 
tailed the powers of the seignoral jurisdiction of the 
great Spanish lords, and added immensely to the 
royal authority. One efficient member of the cortes 
being enfeebled, encroacliments were continued by 
degrees, until Charles V. finally destroyed the an- 
cient constitution of that respectable assembly, and 
rendered it too weak to assert with energy the rights 
of the nation. Adhering, nevertheless, in form to 
their old customs, the nobility maintaining the 
ceremonies, without the virtues, of their ancestors, 
q2 



186 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

and the whole nation mantling itself in the cloke of 
superstition, it is only of late years the Spaniards 
have shewn themselves worthy of their former fame. 

Spain has many colonies. In Africa, Ceuta, 
Oran, &c. In Asia, the Philippines, and other 
islands. In North America, Cuba, Porto Rico, 
Mexico, &c. and in South America, Peru, and all 
the known parts of the continent, except Guiana and 
Brazil. The late invasion of Spain by the French, 
the distractions which that invasion occasioned, and 
the imbecility with which the cause of Spanisli in- 
dependence was mana2;ed in old Spain, all combine 
ed to inspire the Spanish American colonists with a 
resolution to escape from the pressure of the colo- 
nial system, to separate themselves from the parent 
state, and to proclaim themselves independent and 
free. This revolution is now in a state of pro- 
gression, and naturally attracts our attention to the 
leading points in the history of Spanish America 

The subversion of the authority of Napoleon in 
the year 1814, relieved the Spanish nation from any 
further apprehensions of subjugation to the French 
power; but the return of peace did not immediately 
bring with it those political blessings which the gal- 
lantry and fidelity of the Spaniards of every rank 
now merited. Charles the IVth who had been 
decoyed into an abdicati(m of his crown m favor of 
the late emperor of the French in the year 1 808, did 
not resume the exercise of the royal functions on 
the expulsion of the armies of France. His son, 
Ferdinand the Vllth. who had been preferred and 
supported, during the French invasion, by the 
cortes, ascended the throne; and, sustained by the 
army and the principal ecclesiastics, suppressed the 
liberal constitution which had been framed in 1812, 
and persecuted those who had been most distin- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 187 

guished as the friends of civil and religious liberty. 
For five years he continued to reign, de-^pised and 
detested by his own subjects, and contemned by 
foreign powers. In the year 1820. jjowever, a crisis 
arrived, which put an end to his licentiousness and 
despotism. A body of soldiers, assembled at Cadiz 
for the avowed purpose of being embarked for Spa- 
nish America, to aid in putting down the rebellion in 
that part of the Spanish dominions, either from the 
want of pay or a disinclination to the service for 
which they were intended, revolted, turned their 
arms against the royal authority, proclaimed the 
constitution which had been formed by the cortes in 
1812 ; and, having been joined by detachments of 
troops in other parts of the kingdom, and encourag- 
ed by the people, finally compelled the king to con- 
voke the national cortes in form, and svi^ear to main- 
tain the constitution which he had formerly sup- 
pressed. That body accordingly assembled at 
Madrid, in the month of July, in the year 1820. 
They appear to be busily engaged in remodelling 
the government, and adapting the institutions of the 
monarchy to the new circumstances in which Spain 
finds herself. 

PORTUGAL. 

Portugal, to which most of the observations rela- 
tive to Spain will literally apply, fronts Spain in 
almost its whole length. It is separated from it by 
high mountains, by sterile plains; and still more by 
a constant rivalry, and an interminable jealousy, 
which has animated these two neighboring nations. 
The Portuguese and the S|)aniards have a common 
origin, and hence there exists between them a great 
similitude of language, of manners, of habits, of laws 



188 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

and government. This resemblance, nevertheless, 
has ijeen productive ot" nothing but evil ; ot prolong- 
ed quarrels, of reciprocal claim?, of mutual invasions, 
of successes and reverses, of fears and dangers, 
whicli, for a long period, have created between the 
two people an enmity that time has made habitual, 
and which policy has formed into system. Ever 
since the establishment of the balance of power in 
Europe, Portugal has been found arrayed against 
Spain. It was only when engaged in a common cause 
with Spain against France, her arms were united 
■with those of the Spaniards. I have already said 
that every nation has its moment of glory and cele- 
brity : that of Portugal was under Emantiel the 
Great, when V'asco di Gama opened to Europe 
the route by sea to India, and to his countrymen the 
path to immortal renown : Albuqueique elevated 
Portugal to a high decree of splendor, whilst Ca- 
moens sung her praises for posterity. 

There are six provinces in Portugal ; Entre-Douro 
and Minho, Trafos-Montes, Beira, Estremadura, 
Alentejo, and Alj^arva. Of these, Entre-Douro and 
Minho and Tralos Montes were the primitive do- 
main, given in dowry to Henry of Burgundy by 
Alphonso VI. king of C'astile, about the year 1090 : 
Beira and Estremadura were conquered chiefly by 
Alphonso Henriquez ; and Alentejo and Algarva 
■were conquered principally by Sancho I. and Al- 
phonso III. The air of Portugal is considered more 
temperate than that of Spain on account of its proxi- 
mity to the sea Its productions are olives, wines, 
oranges, lemons, almonds, figs and raisins. There 
are mines of iron, tin, lead, quarries of marble, and 
some precious stones. Much salt is made from the 
sea water, especially in the bay of St, Ubes, whence 
a great deal is exported. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 189 

In the year 1580 there was a failure in the royal 
line of Portugal, and Phiiip II. kir:g of Spain sub- 
dued the country ; but in 1640 there was a great 
revolution, and the crown was conferred on John, 
duke of Braganza, whose descendants still enjoy it. 
Lisbon is the capital of Portu«;ai. But this city 
having been threatened by the French, previously to 
their late invasion of Spain, the royal family was 
conveyed, under convoy of a British squadron, to 
Brazil, a Portuguese colony in South America, and 
established the seat of government at Rio Janeiro. 
Besides this colony, the Portuguese have several 
others in Asia and Africa. In the year 1808, the 
population of Portugal amounted to 3,000,000 of 
souls. 

The presence of the royal family in Brazil ne- 
cessarily gives to that portion of the Portuguese 
territories a great dea;ree of importance. It has of 
late been dignified with the name of kingdom ; and, 
from present appearances, the sovereign and his 
court will remain there, and thus place Portugal, 
with regard to its government, in the posture of a 
colony. This degradation has been already felt ; 
and to that cause, as well as to long continued poli- 
tical, civil, and religious, abuses, and the favor shewn 
to British officers, who have been placed in high 
commands there, in disregard of the natives, may 
be ascribed the recent revolutionary movements in 
Portugal. The military force at ()porto, following 
the example of those at Cadiz, in vSpain, has invok- 
ed the nation to the formation of a free constitution, 
to the necessity of wliich the Portuguese people 
seem willingly to assent. C. 



190 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 



LETTER XXr. 

Formation of the ICluo-doins of Modern Europe, af- 
ter the fall of the Roman Empire — Continued, 

rrALY. 

The country of Italy is, without contradiction, 
the most interesting of Europe, on account of its 
history, its estraordinary work?, and its soil ; it 
possesses one of the most delicious temperatures ot 
the earth ; and it has been the cradle of tha arts, the 
school of taste, the repository of the master-works 
of antiquity and of modern beauties. Anciently, 
Italy vanquished and subjugated tlie universe ; but 
as if she were doomed to expiate in the most cruel 
manner so elevated a fortune, she has since been 
trodden under feet by all nations. 

To the anarchy produced in Italy by the disnuem- 
berment of the empire of Cliarlemagne, succeeded, 
by conquest, the domination of the emperors of 
Germany. Their pjower was absolute during the 
times of the family f Saxe ; but it was greatly sha- 
ken under that of Franconia, and totally destroyed 
under that of Suabia, by tlse intrigues and f. he policy 
of the Popes ; who, dreading such powerful neigh- 
bors, contrived to keep them in a state of perpetual 
embarrassment at home and abroad. This famous 
quarrel between the Emperors and the Popes, 
known under the name of the war of the Priesthood, 
or of the Guelphs and GhibbelHnes, continued three 
centuries, during which Italy, after experiencing all 
the miseries and horn-rs of fanaticism, of confusion, 
and of intestine broils, finalh took the form which, 
in a great measure, it has preserved to our days. 



HISTORICAL LKTTER.S. 191 

This form embraces a variety of subordinate prin- 
cipalities. Of Naples I have already spoken. 
Tuscany, after innumerable revolutions and troubles 
without end, together with Florence, found repose 
and happiness under the administration of the Me- 
dici, who reigned a long time by the reputation of 
their virtues before they reigned under the authority 
of a title. Alexander, the first duke, was created 
by Charles V. in 1531. Pius V. elevated Cosmo to 
the dignity of grand duke in 1569. This country, 
on the extinction of the house of Medici, passed to 
that of Lorraine in 1737, on condition that it should 
never be united to the Austrian monarchy. In 1802 
it passed, by treaty, from the house of Lorraine to 
the Bourbons of Parma, who possessed it for some 
time under the appellation of the kingdom of 
Etruria. 

Parma and Placenza, after having been given by 
the Popes to the house of Farnese, passed, on its ex- 
tinction, to a Branch of the Bourbons of Spain, who 
subsequently ceded it to France in exchange for the 
kingdom of Etruria. 

Modena, possessed for a long time by the house 
of Este, was merged by changes in the modern king- 
dom of Italy. Its sovereign, the last male of the 
family, received the Brisgaw as an indemnity. 

Milan and Mantua, by various political circum- 
stances, passed to the house of Austria in 1714 and 
1708. This division of Italy disappeared under 
jEew arrangements, and made part of the kingdom of 
Italy. 

Genoa, after a multitude of revolutions, became, 
jin 1528, by the courage of the famous Andrew 
Doria, a celebrated aristocratical republic, which 
lost its constitution by the revolutions of Europe, 
tnd was united to France in 1805. 



192 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Piedmont and Montserrat accrued to the house 
of Savoy by marnnge, by the favor or grant of the 
emperors. The revolutions which aifected so many 
other states, annexed these also to France. 

Venice, which had formed itself, in lapse of time, 
into an aristocratical republic, and which has exist- 
ed until our days, displaying much of wisdom, of 
glory, of policy, and of power, has disappeared 
amidst the convulsions of modern times, and com- 
posed a great part of the kingdom of Italy. 

The possessions of the Popes, whoie temporal 
power was chiefly founded by Pepin and Charle- 
magne, and which were considerably increased by 
papal policy and the influence of spiritual authoiity, 
were, for a short period, entirely wrested from the 
Holy Father. Part of these possessions were incorpo- 
rated with tlie kingdom of Italy, and part politically 
united to tlie French empire As a consolation to the 
Romans for the loss of their Pontiff* Napoleon pro- 
claimed Rome the second imperial city of his domi- 
nions, and exerted himself to cleanse and embellish 
that ancient mistress of the world. 

But these modern arrangements, which were con- 
sequent upon the wars of the French revolution, 
were, for the most part, disregarded by the powers 
of Europe upon the downfall of Napoleon. The 
states of Italy were carried back, as nearly as possi- 
ble, to their organization in 1792. They were re- 
modelled to their present territorial limits and go- 
vernment by the treaty of Vienna of the 9th of June, 
1815. By that treaty, Genoa was united to Sardi- 
nia, certain districts of Savoy were ceded to the*^' 
canton of Geneva, and the ancient sovereignty of 
the house of Austria in Italy was fully recognised. 
In this recognition are included Istria, Dalmatia, 
the ancient Venetian isles of the Adriatic, the 



HISTORICAL LETTEUS. 193 

moulhs of the Cattaro, the city of Venice, with its 
waters, as well as all the other provinces and dis- 
tricts of the fonnerl J Venetian states of the Terra 
Firma, upon the bank of the Adige, the duchies of 
Milan and Mantua, the principalities of Brixen and 
Trent, the county of Tyrol, and other valuable pos- 
sessions. The sovereignty of the duchies of Mode- 
na, Reggio,and Mirandola, was given to the Arch- 
duke Francis d'Este, and the sovereignty and pro- 
perty of the duchy of Massa, and the principality 
of Carara, and the imperial fiefs in Lunigiana, to 
the arch-duchess Maria Beatrice d'Este. To the 
Empress Maria Louisa, the wife of Napoleon, were 
given, in full property and sovereignty, the ducliies 
of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla. The duchy of 
Tuscany was re-established in its ancient integrity, 
and the rights of sovereignty and property re-in- 
vested in the archduke Ferdinand of Austria, as 
formerly possessed by him. The principality of 
Lucca was erected into a duchy; and the Fope 
having been previously reinstated at Rome, the 
Marches, with Camerino, and their dependencies, 
the duchy of Benevento, and the principality of 
Ponte Corvo, were restored to the Holy See, which, 
by the same treaty of Vienna, was also authorized to 
resume possession of the legations of Ravenna, 
Bologna, and a part of Ferrara. Ferdinand the IVth 
was restored to the throne of Naples ; and such 
regulations were adopted and guarantees entered 
into, by the principal monarchs, as seemed to ensure 
the duration of the sovereignties, thus re-established 
in Italy, upon the basis of an ameliorated feudality. 
More liberal ideas, however, appear to have beea 
too widely disseminated, by the political agitations 
of the French revolution, to allow of tiie repose so 
desirable to despotic rulers. Representative govern- 



194 HISTORICAL LETTKRS. 

ment is tlie great object at which the subjects of the 
emperors and kin<;s of Europe all aim ; and tlie 
Italian states, next, perhaps, to Spain, are the most 
extensively pervaded by the spirit of reformation. 
This has been manifested during the present year 
(18^0) in the revolution which has occurred in 
Naples, where the soldiery, emulating the Spanish 
army at Cadiz, have been instrumental in subvert- 
ing the despotic government which had so long pre- 
vailed in tliat delightful region. 

The painter who should pretend to delineate on 
the map of Italy, the marches and the conflicts of 
the various armies which, at different periods, have 
harassed its population and stained its soil with 
blood, would soon find his pallet exhausted of colors 
and his tablet devoid of intelligence. I shall, there- 
fore, not attempt to pourtray in words what would 
be so difficult for the pencil ; and, abandoning the 
military tracks of Bonaparte, of Suwarrow, of 
Championet and of Macdonald, as well as the routes 
of those invaders who preceded them, I will turn 
my attention to the poets and the artists of a coun- 
try, whose genius, in one shape or another, appears 
to be almost imperishable. 

PoetSy Sfc* 

Dante, of Florence, the father of Italian poetry, 
was famous by his Helly his Purgatory, and his 
Paradise. 

Petrarch, of Arezzo, has immortalized the lovely 
Laura, the Fountain of Vaucluse, and himself, by his 
tender and harmonious verses. 

Boccace, of Tuscany, the disciple and the friend 
of Petrarch, was admired for his Novels. He lived 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 195 

a considerable time at Naples in the reign of queen 
Joan. 

Machiavel, of Florence, was celebrated for his 
political treatise entitled Tlie Prince, and by his 
Floientine history. 

Ariosto, of Reggio, was the first poet of Italy 
w^ith Tasso ; more lively, more animated, than the 
latter. He is the author of Orlando Furioso. 
The late Charles James Fox, who, with a view, to 
improve his elocution as well as his literary taste, 
made himself well acquainted with the merits ot 
the best ancient and modern poets, ranks Ariosto 
next to Homer. 

Guicciardini, of Florence, was celebrated by his 
personal worth and his writings ; and above all, by 
his history, in Italian, from 1494 to 1532. 

Paul Jovian, bishop of Nocera, was celebrated by 
bis writings, and particularly by his history, in 45 
books, which comes down to 1544. 

Tasso, of Naples, was the first poet of Italy with 
Ariosto ; but moie noble and more correct tban the 
latter. He has written Jerusalem Delivered and 
Aminta. Mr. Fox thinks Tasso below Ariosto; yet 
at the same time acknowledges that Metastasio, who 
he admits ought to be a better judge of Italian poe- 
try than himself, upon the whole gives Tasso the 
preference. 

Guarini, of Ferrara, was a poet celebrated by hie 
works, of which the most known is the Faster Fido, 

Gallileo, of Pisa, was celebrated for his science 
and misfortunes. He rendered himself immortal 
by his astronomical discoveries. 

Torricelli, of Faenza, was the successor of Gal-i- 
leo in the mathematical career. He invented the 
microscope. 



196 



HISTOniCAL LETTLRS. 



Metastasio, of Rome, was a dramatic poet, cele- 
i)rated by the perfection to which he brought lyric 
tragedy. 

Faint erSy S^'c. 

Cimabuc and Giotto, of Fh)rence, were tlie resto- 
rers of painting and the futheis of tlie B'lorentine 
scliool. 

Tiaphaol Sanzio, of LVbino, ranks among the first 
of painters. 

Leonard! da Vinci, of Florence, was one of the 
greatest men of his time. 

Perugino, of Perugia, was the master of Raphael. 

Of tlicse, the chief productions are, the Tvanafi' 
juration, an immortal work, (by Raphael,) consi- 
dered as the first picture of the world : St. Cecilia^ 
which is very famous; and tlie celebrated Halls of 
the Vatican, 

Andrew del Sarto Vanucchi, of Florence, is 
chiefly esteemed for variety : The Maduna del 
Sacco, and St. Andrew adoring the cross, are his 
principal works. He was a faithful copier. 

Corre^io Allegri, of Correnio, excelled in the 
graces ot liis art, and was the inventor of his own 
style of painting. He was skilful in fore-shorten- 
ing. Among his best productions is the Christmas 
A^i^ht, which is allowed to be admirable. 

'Ihe Parmesan Mazzola, of Parma, who was call- 
ed the son of the Graces, and whose works are very 
rare, distinguished himself by his Jloses, his Adam 
and Eve, and some other pieces. He is supposed 
to have been the inventor of the art of etching with 
aquafortis. 

Julius Romani Pippi, of Rome, was a pupil of 
Raphael, and equal to his master. Among otlier 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 197 

works, he left the Victory of JiqnUr over the 
Giants, 

Michael Angelo Buonarotti, of Tuscany, was the 
first of the Italians for architecture and sculpture, 
and the emulator of Raphael in paintinjr. His chief 
v'orks are tb.e last Judgment, the Criicijiociony and 
the Church of St. Peter, 

Titian Vecellio, of Venice, was tlie first of the 
Venetian school ; and the greatest colorist ever 
known. Reubens is compared to him. Among his 
best performances are the Martyrdom of St. Feter, 
A last Supper, and Christ crowned with Thorns. 

Paul Veronese Caliari, of Verona, possessed the 
richest and the finest genius for the composition of 
a picture. Of his performances, Jesus Christ with 
the Pharisee is distinguished. 

Tintoretto Robusti, of Venice, astonished by the 
enthusiasm of his genius and the boldness of his 
pencil. St. Mark, and the C» ucifixion of Jesus 
Christ, arc among his best pieces. 

Caravagio Amerigi, of Milan, had fine talents ; but 
has too frequently copied nature in her deformitiei. 

Barocchi, of Urbino, excelled in subjects of devo- 
tion. Many of his performances are to be found at 
the Louvre, in Pans. 

The Caracchi, Lewis, Anthony, and Hannibal, to- 
gether with their pupils, broug;ht the art of painting 
to great perfection in all its branches. Among their 
productions the Jlother of Fit y, by Hannibal, is dis- 
tinguished. Many of their works are held in great 
esteem. 

Dominichini Zampieri, of Bologna, excelled in 
purity of design, in the beauty of his heads, and the 
naturalness of his attitudes. His Comwufiioti of 
St. Jerome, (which ranks after the Transfiguration 
of Raphael,) is his chief piece. 
r2 



198 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Guido Reni, of Bologna, was remarkable for the 
aggregate of his perfections ; without being equal to 
certain great masters, he united more of beauty, of 
grace, and of finish, than any of them. His master- 
work is St, Peter IVeeplug, a celebrated perfor- 
mance, and supposed to be the most complete of 
Italy. This artist's love of gaming reduced him to 
great distress. 

Joseph Ribera, a Spaniard, is considered as the 
first of the Neapolitan School. He delighted in 
subjects of the terrible kind, and, among other 
things, has painted the Twelve Proph-ts. He some- 
times engraved in aquafortis. 

Albano, of Bologna, was principally celebrated 
for the noble and regular graces of h\s heads. There 
is, however, very little variation in these heads ; for, 
having a beautiful wife and fine children, Albano 
sought for no other models. The fair Doralice was 
his Venus, and his sons were his Cupids. 

Cavedoni, of Modena, was an esteemed disciple 
of Hannibal Caracchi, whose style he has imitated. 
He was so unhappy in his family that he died mad. 

Andrew Sacchi, a Roman, and a disciple of Alba- 
no, imitated the graces of the latter, and is thought 
to have surpassed him in taste. Of his works, St 
JRomuald is very much esteemed. 

Guerchini Barbieri, so named because he ha<I a 
cast in one of his eyes, was of Ferrara, and celebra- 
ted for the manly beauty of his traits, the richness 
of his pencil, and the facility of his productions. 
Among his principal pieces. Dido is much esteemed. 

Salvator Rosa, of Naples, was a celebrated pain- 
ter, engraver, and poet, famous for his travels, his 
sea-pieces, his battles, and, above all, by the brilliant 
coloring of his pictures. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 199 

Gnma]di, of Bologna, a pupil of Caracchi, was a 
painter and engra\ei-, who chiefly excelled in land- 
scape. Cardinal Mazarine emplojed him three 
years in embellishing the Louvre. 

The Chevalier Bernini, of Naples, was a sculptor, 
painter, and architect, of considerable merit. 

Preli, of Naples, was esteemed for the richness ot 
his invention and the strength of his coloring. Of 
his productions, the Martyrdom of St. Peter is dis- 
tinguished, 

Luke Jordans, of Naples, astonished by the faci- 
lity of his talents, and has le'^t many works behind 
him. He was employed by the king of Spain to 
paint for some time in the Escui'ial. 

Maratti Carlo, of An^ona, is much esteemed for 
his fine pictures, of which his Virji^ins, his ravishing 
expresaiont and his majestic ideas, are exceedingly 
admired. 

Solimeni, of Naples, was remarkable for his pow- 
ers of imagination, and the freshness of his coloring. 

Rosalba Cariera, a ladv, of Venice, excelled in 
crayon and miniature. She became blind in 1748. 
She was much employed by the English nobility. 

By the revolutions of modern times, the most ce- 
lebrated Antiquities and Monuments, as well as 
Paintings, were torn fiom Italy. Those objects of 
admiration which drew travellers and students to 
Rome ; which adorned that city, Venice, and Flo- 
rence ; which made the Vatican and its garden, the 
capitol, the palaces of Farnese, of Borghese, and 
the villas Albani and Ludoviso, most worthy of be- 
ing visited by strangers, were, with few exceptions, 
wrested from their owners and conveyed to France. 
The Romans of our days had no Camitlus to pre- 
serve them from the ravages of the Gauls, 



200 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

But the greater portion of Europe in arms against 
France, did that for Italy, which Italy could not do 
for herself. The works of art which had been wrest- 
ed by conquest from the Italian possessors, and 
transported to Paris, to enrich the Louvre, were re- 
claimed, and finally restored to their former owners. 
Nor did this take place with regard to Italy alone. 
The Prussians, the Belgians, and the Spaniards, 
seized upon the celebrated pictures and other dis- 
tinguished works which had been respectively taken 
from them; so that all that the French capital liad, 
in this respect, gained by war, by the vicissitude of 
war it lost. C. 



LETTER XXIL 

Formation of the Kingdoms of Modern Europe, 
after the fall of the Roman Emjnre, 

GERMANY. 

The origin of the various tribes of Barbarians that 
inhabited the country anciently denominated Ger- 
many, is nearly lost in the mists of antiquity. Of 
the enlightened men who have treated of their early 
history and manners, Tacitus stands the most dis- 
tinj^uished. Interesting and authentic traits of their 
spirit and character may also be gleaned from the 
writings of Julius Caesar, who was personally ac- 
quainted with their customs, and had frequently ex- 
perienced the effects of their ferocious valor. It is 
universally agreed by historians and commentators, 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 201 

that the ancient Germans were addicted to war, in- 
fluenced bv masculine ideas of independence, and 
were the intrepid assertors of public liberty. The 
courage of their chiefs has often made the Roman 
eagle droop the wing, and the ablest generals of tlie 
imperial mistress of the Morld seek for safety in 
flight. But whilst they were thus remarkable for 
the virtues, they were likewise conspicuous for the 
vices, of Barbarians. Gaming and drunkenness 
were carried to excess ; and there was very little to 
admire in their private njorals, or their predominant 
manners, if we except the parental vigilance, the in- 
violable chastity, and the undaunted heroism of 
their women. The love of freedom was their ruling 
passion ; and Montesquieu, with no small degree of 
probability, concludes that the most liberal princi- 
ples of modern government originated in the woods 
of Germany. 

The Roman empire of the West, which ended 
with Romulus Augustulus, was succeeded by the 
agitations of those warlike tribes, which, from the 
north of Europe and the interior of Asia, sought for 
a milder climate, for better habitations, and perhaps 
for revenge of the wrongs inflicted by Rome. Their 
migrations and their battles changed the condition 
of society, alloyed civilization with barbarian policy, 
and for a considerable duration of time kept Italy, 
Gaul, and Germany, in a state of commotion. These 
inquietudes had not yet subsided, when Charle- 
magne, in the year 800, was crowned at Rome bv 
Pope Leo III. and revived the western empire, witli 
the consent of Nicej)hores, who then reigned in the 
east. This empire was afterwards divided between 
the four sons of Lewis-lc-Debonnaii^^ who was the 
son and successor of Charlemagne. From the divi- 
sion of the dominions of tlie latter, nntil the election 



202 HISTORICAL LKTTERS. 

of Rodolpli of Hapsboiirfr, comprehending^; an inter- 
val of upwards of three hundred years, German his- 
tory embraces four distinct periods, distinguished 
by the houses of Saxony, of Franconia, of 8uabia,. 
and by an anarchy of long continuance. 

During tlie contest of ambitious rivals for power 
and precedence, independent communities, border- 
ing on Germany, prone to plunder and fond of spoil, 
did not fail to take advantage of prevailing 
troubles ; the Hungarians, the Bohemians, the 
Sclavonians, tlie Venedians, tlie Danes, and other 
banditti, each according to their j]^enius and situa- 
tion, broke in upon the Germans and rava2;ed their 
territory. From these predatory invasions Geimany 
was in a great measure freed by the princes of the 
house of Saxony, amonir whom Henry the Fowler 
was much distinguished by his abilities as a warrior 
and statesman, and who enlarged and fortified his 
country, improving the morals of the people and 
ameliorating the state of society. But his son Otho 
the Great, who reigned A. D. 956, obtained more 
splendid successes in the norUi and in the south of 
Europe : By marriage and by conquest he extended 
his authority into Italy, wrested the imperial dia- 
dem from every competitor, compelled the Pope to 
acknowledge his power, and attached the dignity of 
emperor to the sovereign of the German States. 
The superior capacity of Otho the Great, is best 
described by the fortunes of liis successors, Olho II. 
and III. and Henry II. who, from the year 973, till 
the beginning of the eleventh century, reigned in 
the midst of political and religious troubles, unequal 
to tiie task of retaining in steady subjection a dis- 
cordant population, excited by restless spirits to 
rebellion and independence. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 20o 

The imperial sovereignty of the house of Saxony 
became extinct on the death of Henry II. and in die 
year 1024 it was transferred to tiie House of Fran- 
conia, in the person of Conrad H. who, by the 
female line, was descended from Otho the Great. 
He was solemnly elected to the throne in the pre- 
sence of all the high dignitaries of the empire, and 
of the freemen assembled for that purpose. There 
M'ere five emperors of the House of Saxony in the 
space of 105 years : The House of Franconia also 
produced five, in the course of 109 years. The prin- 
ces of this latter family were, in general, remarkable 
for their misfortunes. Henry HI. who reigned A, 
D. 1039, was the most illustrious ; distinguished for 
justice, humanity, and love of literature. Henry 
XV. who came to the throne in the year 1056, at a 
tender age, is celebrated by the vicissitudes of his 
life. Involved in a quarrel with the ablest of the 
Popes, whose cause was well supported by tlie Nor- 
mans, who established themselves in Italy under 
Henry III. he was compelled to mingle the most 
iservile degradations with the splendor of royalty; 
and finally, oppressed by the usurpation of his son 
and the contrivances of the head of the church, he 
became a wandering outcast, a stranger to the offices 
of friendship, andwascontemptuousl}^ spurned from 
the meanest employments. Under the house of 
Franconia the empire went to decay, and in every 
quarter petty princes started up, rendered impor- 
tant by the turbulence of the times, and laying 
claim to, and exercising within their respective 
jurisdictions, all the privileges of sovereign power. 

The house of Suabia endured for 116 years, and 
gave six emperors to the German crown. Frederick 
1. called Barbarossa, was the hero of it. He reign- 
ed in the year 1152. During the life of this prince. 



£04 HISTORICAL LK'iTEKS. 

Germany began to recover from Papal influence ; 
but the imbecility of those who followed him, and a 
succession of able Po{3es, plunged the empire anew 
into religious squabbles, and eventually involved 
the German states in utter confusion. Several prin- 
ces of the Suabian line, at the instigation of the 
Holy See, took up the cross, and marched to Pales- 
tine against the [nlidels. Such was the case with 
Frederick L and II. But nothing could appease 
the implacable policy of the ecclesiastics, who were 
sufficiently influential in Germany to set up empe- 
rors of their own, and to support them against the 
regular claimant. Conrad IV. who reigned about 
the middle of the thirteenth century, was the last 
monarch of the house of Suabia: Several nominal 
sovereigns preceded, mere phantoms, strangers alike 
to the imperial residence and to the diadem. Uni- 
versal disorder prevailed : Usurpation and rapine 
triumphed ; until the Germans, of every class, in- 
structed by theirsufferings, or wishing to enjoy their 
acquisitions, determined once more to court order 
and tranquillity by the election of a chief to guard 
the general interests of the nation. The choice fell 
upon Rodolpli of Hapsbourg, A. D. 1273, a man 
well qualified for the station, and who thus laid the 
foundation of the fortunes of his family. It was 
under Frederick II. of the house of Suabia, that the 
Teutonic order was introduced into Germany. The 
knights of this order, who sprung from an obscure 
beginning in the Holy Land, rose to be a military 
institution of high renown, and were greatly instru- 
mental in the propagation of the Christian religion 
in the North of Europe ; they drove the Pagans out 
of Prussia, and spread the Gospel among the Russi- 
ans. In the course of time they amassed immense 
wealth, which, abusing their power, they were una- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 205 

ble to retain, and, in modern times, have sunk into 
a state of iiisio-nificance. 

The historj of Hap.sbourg, is, in eifect, the histo- 
ry ot all Europe from the year 1273. The Aus- 
trian branch of the family, if we except Charles V. 
of Spain, has always been the most powerful ; 
but Frederick II. of Prussia, denominated the Great, 
and who is of the same house, is, perhaps, the most 
illustrious prince of the line. About the middle of 
the sixteenth century the race of Hapsbourg Qf what 
was called Old Austria, was divided into the Aus- 
trian-Spanish branch, and the Austrian-German 
branch, the former of which became extinct in the 
year 1700, and was succeeded, on the death of 
Charles II. king of Spain, by a branch of the house 
of Bourbon. The x\.ustrian-Germaa branch be- 
came extinct A. D. 1740, on the death of Charles 
VI. when Maria Theresa intermarried with Francis 
of Lorraine, which laid the foundation of a new 
house of Austria. 

The German historians to be consulted for the 
particular incidents of the reigns of the princes of 
the house of Hapsbourg are Heiss, Pfeffel, and 
Koch; but the English reader may gather all the 
material facts from accurate compilations in our own 
language. Statesmen of modei'n times have consi- 
dered it unnecessary to be very deeply versed in 
those European transactions which took place pre- 
viously to the fifteenth century. As matter of cu- 
riosity, and as a means of enlarging our knowledge 
of human nature and the destiny of nations, it is 
certainly desirable to be made intimately acquaint- 
ed with the occurrences of every century: But for 
the purpose of fully comprehending the combina- 
tions of policy and negociation for the last two hun- 
dred years, it is only requisite to commence our 
S 



S06 HISTORICAL LETTEHS. 

attentive researches at the commencement of the 
thirty years war, which was terminated by the trea- 
ty of Westphalia, A. D. 1648. Religion, which was 
the ostensive cause of this long war, was, in reality, 
nothing more tlian a veil to disguise the ambition 
of the house of Austria, which sought to erect upon 
the ruins of the confederacy of German states an he- 
reditary throne. The Catholic League and the 
Evangelical Union kept the Germans in a ferment; 
but these parties did not blind France and Sweden 
to the aspiring eftbits of the Austrian monarchy. 
Those two powers threw their weight into the scale 
of the minor German princes, who were thereby 
preserved from ruin and subjection. A war of such 
duration was the nursery of genius, both in the 
camp and the cabinet, and, accordingly, we find, on 
the side of Austria, Tilly, Walstcin, Picolomini, and 
others ; on that of France, Turenne, Conde, and the 
artful Richlieu ; and on the part of Sweden, the 
celebrated Gustavus Adolphus, Oxenstiern, and 
Torstenson. This conflict will be forever immorta- 
lized among military men by the battles of Prague 
and Rocroi, of Leipsic and Lutzen, and various 
others. Most of the parties concerned in it gain- 
ed an accession of territory by the treaty of West- 
phalia, which became a part of the fundamental law 
of the Germanic empire. 

The next important war in which Germany was 
engaged, was, at the instance of the House of Aus- 
tria, for the Spanish succession. Charles II. of 
Spain, had devised the crown to the grandson of the 
French king Louis XIV. who, in conjunction with 
the Spanish nation, entered into a contest with the 
emperor of Germany, and several other powers, 
who claimed the succession for a member of the 
Austrian family. Many brilliant men arose, and 



i 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 20T 

many gallant exploits were performed during the; 
contest. The battles of Blenheim, of Ramillies, of 
Malplaquet, of Almanza, and various other combats, 
will never be forgotten ; and readers of a warlike 
temper, still dwell with enthusiasm on the names 
of Villars and Vendome, of Eugene and Marlbo- 
rough. Spain, which then retained a considerable 
portion of the possessionsf that Charles V. enjoyed 
during his attempt to establish an universal monar- 
chy, was rent to pieces: Holland was secured by 
strong barriers against the encroachments of France ; 
the House of Bourbon acquired Spain proper and 
her colonies ; the elector of Brandenburg was recog- 
nised as king of Prussia ; the Milanesse, Naples, 
Sardinia and the Low Countries, were acquired by 
the House of Austria ; Sicily accrued to the sove- 
reign of Savoy ;and Minorca, New-Foundland, and 
Gibraltar, fell into the hands of the English. This 
contest commenced in th* year 1700, and was coa- 
eluded by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. 

The next war of importance was that in the year 
17S5, for the succession of Poland, in which Russia, 
Austria, and the Empire, sustained the pretensions 
of Augustus H. against France, who supported the 
rights of Stanislaus Leczinski ; the former claiming 
the crown in virtue of his descent ; the latter, by 
election. Augustus eventually retained the dignity 
and authority of sovereign, whilst Stanislaus, with 
the empty title of king, recovered his possessions in 
Poland and obtained a conditional grant of Lor- 
raine. This war produced several territorial chan- 
ges in Italy, and was terminated by the treaty of 
Vienna, A. D. 17S5. 

The war of the Austrian succession broke out in 
1740.^ Charles VI. in his will, called the pragmatic 
sanction, under the guaranty of several Europeau 



208 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 



states, left his possessions to jMaria Theresa, his 
eldest daughter. This, like almost all others, M^as 
a conflict of ambition ; and it ended, as most wars 
do, by sacrifices, compromises, and acquisitions, 
amon^ the parties. Maria Theresa, however, was 
secured in the possessions of her father, with the 
exception of Silesia and Parma, the first of whicii 
was ceded to t!ie king of Prussia and the last to a 
branch of the royal family of Spain. Hostilities 
were concluded in the year 1748, by the peace of 
Aix la-Chapel le. 

The descendants of Maria Theresa have exhibit- 
ed no splendid abilities. L'nder their reigns, the 
House of Austria has lost its grandeur. From the 
chief of the Germanic empire, the present sovereign, 
Francis H. was compelled by Napoleon, to shrink 
into the character or the emperor of Austria. He 
abdicated the imperial crown, A. D. 1806 ; and was 
compelled to receive the law from the emperor of 
France, with whom he formed a close alliance and 
to wliom he gave his daughter in marriage. 

A^ustria, hov/ever, did not long remain in this de- 
graded situation : she contributed, more than any 
other European power, to the fatal reverses whicli 
overwhelmned the emperor Napoleon in the year 
1814. In this instance the spirit of royal legitima- 
cy was too strong for parental feeling ; for although 
the same act that exiled Bonaparte to the island of 
Elba, deprived Maria Louisa, the daughter of the 
sovereign of Austria, of an imperial throne, he did 
not hesitate, but concurred in that lesser humiliation 
for the purpose of re-elevaHng his own authority in 
Italy and over the Germatdc body. The confe«le- 
ration of theRliine, v/hich had been formed by Na- 
poleon out of the states of the old Germanic confe- 
deracy, having been dissolved by i\\e dissolution of 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 209 

the imperial power of France, the Germanic confe- 
deration was reorganized in 1815 by the treaty of 
Vienna. Its present declared object is the mainte- 
nance of the external and internal safety of Germa- 
ny, and of the independence and inviolability of the 
confederated states. The members of the confede- 
ration, as such, are equal with regard to their rights ; 
and they are all equally engaged to maintain the 
act which constitutes their union. The affairs ot 
this union are confided to a federative diet, in 
which all the members vote by their plenipotentia- 
ries, either individually or collectively. Austria 
presides at the diet, and may be regarded as the 
head of the Germanic Body. Each state of the con- 
federation has the right of making propositions, and 
the presiding state must bring them under delibera- 
tion within a definite time. The states of the con- 
federation engage to defend, not only the whole of 
Germany, but each individual state of the union, in 
case it should be attacked, and they mutually gua- 
ranty to each other such of their possessions as are 
comprised in the union. They also engage not to 
make war against each other, on any pretext, nor to 
pursue their differences by force of arms, but to 
submit them to the diet,^ which is authorized to 
attempt a mediation by means of a commission If 
this should not succeed, and a juridical sentence be- 
comes necessary, recourse must be had to a well-or- 
organized Austregal Court, to the decision of 
which the contending parties are to submit without 
appeal 

If the rivers and mountains of the globe did not 
remain to guide our researches, the desolation occa- 
sioned by human ambition and the changes produred 
by political arrangements, from time to time, would 
preclude the possibility of tracing the successive 

8 3 



210 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

formation of human societies and kingdoms on the 
maps, wSich represent the surface of the world Of 
the six piinMpal duchies of Saxony, Bavaria, Fran- 
coma, J^' a! a, Tapper and Lower TiOrraine, into 
which Gei n'anj was originally divided, the lines are 
very faint They have been succeeded by various 
states laical and ecclesiastical, of which Austria is 
the principal. 

Prussia, by the policy and courage of a few 
able monarrhs, rose to a degree of splendor and 
power, that at once astonished and alarmed 
her neighbors. But as if her fate had been merely 
to exist for the purpose of forming a hero m the 
person of Frederick the Great, her lustre was sud- 
denly eclipsed, and her sovereign laid prostrate at 
the feei of France. The chief of the Prussian royal 
family was Frederick of Hohenzollern of whom 
Rodolph of Hapsbourg was the uncle. The House 
of Hohenzollern was, in the first instance, of no 
higher dignity than that of Burgrave ; it afterwards 
rose to electoral importance, and in 1701 it attain* 
ed the kingly dignity under Frederick I. The 
reigning sovereign is Frederick Williani" III. who 
lost a great part of his estates by the treaty of Tilsit, 
in the year 1807; but recovered them, with addi- 
tions, by the treaty of Vienna, in 1815. 

Saxony, which had been erected into a kingdom 
by Napoleon, retains that title; but has been reluc- 
tantly compelled to make great territorial sacrifices 
in favor of the king of Prussia, who, in virtue of the 
treaty of Vienna of »815, is denominated Duke of 
Saxony. 

Hanover, formerly an electorate, has, by the same 
treaty, been recognised as a kin<^dom, of which the 
king of Great Britain and Ireland is the sovereign. 

The treaty of Vienna, moreover, guaranties the 
integrity of the Swiss cantons, adding to them the 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 211 

Vallais, the territory of Geneva, and the principa- 
lity of Neufchatel. The Helvetic confederation be- 
gan A. D. 1308, and gradually increased until it 
formed, in 1514, thirteen cantons. The Swiss are 
a hardy, valiant race, inured to toil, fearless of dan- 
ger, and intrepid in tlie cause of liberty. Although 
situated in the midst of mountains, and having 
scarcely any thing to temi)t invasion, they lave al- 
ways been auitated by the commotions of their ]iOw- 
erful neighbt*rs, and have never failed to distinguish 
themselves by the most daring courage. Several 
passes lead from Switzerland into Italy, that theatre 
of so many bloody wars, which has been one cause 
of the Swiss being frequently involved in hostilities. 
Their soldiers were forn.ei ly in such high repute 
that they were *<olicited, by hi^h pay, into the ser- 
vice of almost every military power on tl e conti- 
nent of Europe. During the French revolutionary 
conflicts they have been most cruelly treated by the 
Austrians and the French ; particularly by the lat- 
ter, who deluged the country with blood. Finding, 
however, that the Swiss could only be eftc ctually 
subdued by extermination, Napoleon entered into a 
compact with them, guarantied to them a kind of 
independence, took great pains to conciliate their 
friendship and cause them to forget their nusfor- 
tunes, and styled himself their mediator. The po- 
pulation of Switzerland is about 1,700,000 souls. 

When the French armies experienced a reverse 
of fortune, the Swiss cantons opened a ppssage 
through their country to the allied troops which en- 
tered France in the year 1814. The allies assur- 
ed the political independence of Switzerland, 
according to a convention of the 29th of December, 
1813, which was recognized by the treaty of Vienna 
in 1815. 



212 HISrORICAL LETTERS. 

The constiiution of Germany, which the emperor 
JVapoleon overthrew, was a heterogeneous mass of 
provisions and regulations growing out of an adjust- 
ment of the rights and interests of a multitude of 
primary and petty sovereigns, and of treaties form- 
ed under the sanction of the most respectable mo- 
narchs of F.urope. The fragments of the emj>ire of 
Charlemagne were erected into Grand Duchies, 
whose dukes did not hesitate to assume 'he highest 
authority, and to administer the aftairs of their ter- 
ritories by means of Margraves, Rhingraves and 
Landgraves, who were a kind of earls, that, accord- 
ing to their situations on the frontiers or marches, 
in the interior of the country or on the Rhine, took 
this denomination. To counterbalance this ducal 
p(Aver, the emperors created provincial palatines, 
who, with regal commissions, and with the assis- 
tance of burgraves, m the principal towns, were ena- 
bled in a great degree to check the jurisdiction of 
the dukes, and to increase the imperial prerogative* 
To these we may add the clergy, who, from the 
sanctity of the clerical functions, or from the weak- 
ness or design of the emperors, obtained a prodigi- 
ous infiaecice m the body politic of Germany. In 
the German constitution may be plainly discerned 
the leading idea of the confederation of the North 
American states, the latter having improved the 
German constitutional codes by adopting the most 
liberal features of the English frame of government. 
The Emperor, like the President of the United 
States, had a dispensing power in the administration 
of justice, superintended the mint, nominated to 
offices, and convoked the General Diet of the States. 
This Diet, composed of the representatives of the 
several states of the empire, enacted laws of a gene- 
ral nature, had the power of impeachment, and, like 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 213 

tl»e congress, rlecitled questions of peace or war. 
The individual German states, like those of the 
union, held a peculiar sovereignty, and administer- 
ed law with respect to their local aftairs without 
control. 

!f any person is disposed to investigate the rise, 
progress, decay, and regeneration, of the Germanic 
body more minutely, he may be amply gratified by 
consulting the particular histories of the Diets of 
Nuremburg and Metz, held A. D. 1356, when the 
ordinances of the Golden Bull were proclaimed ; of 
the Diet of Worms, held in the year 1495, when 
the Imperial chamber vi'as established for the settle- 
ment of disputes between the individual German 
states; of the Diet of Treves and Cologne, in 1512, 
bv which Germany was divided into circles ; of the 
Diet of Augsbourg in 1555, wiiich gave a constitu- 
tional existence to the protestant religion in Ger- 
many; of the treaty of Westphalia, which regulated 
and strengthened the constitution of the empire; 
and also the histories of the treaties of Luneville, of 
Presburg, of Tilsit, the convention between Austria 
and France, which immediately preceded the family 
alliance between the houses of Lorraine and Bona- 
parte ; and the treaty of Vienna, of the 9tii of June, 
1815. " C. 



214 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 



LETTER XXIil. 



Formation (4 the Kingdoms of Modern Europe, af- 
ter the fall of the lioman Empire — continued. 

HOLLAND. 

Kfolland, or the United Provinces of the Netiier- 
lands, grew into a political confederacy about the 
year 1579. Each province administered its local 
aflau's with an absolute authority ; but the States- 
General was vested with the supreme legislative 
power of the Union, which was formed of deputies 
sent from each of the states, and was clothed with 
power to make war and peace, levy taxes, and pro- 
vide for the general welfare. The country, in the 
time of the Roman empire, was inhabited by the 
Frisii, the Batavi, and other warlike tribes, who, as 
occasion served, were in alliance or hostility wiih 
Kome. The name of Civilis, a Batavian chief, will 
be immortal, for his genius, policy, and courage, dis- 
played in a bold but ineffectual effort to \v^q his 
country and the neighboring nations from the Ro- 
man yoke. His fortunes and his character are des- 
cribed by Tacitus. 

The Hollanders have been a patient and a labo- 
rious people, and by unexampled perseverance, 
made their country, (the surface of which is in ma- 
ny places below the level of the sea, which is fen- 
ced out by dykes) a theatre of immense wealth and 
population, the result of an industry that puts all 
comparison at defiance, unless a parallel may bo 
drawn from a community of bees : Celebrated for 
their herring, cod, and whale fisheries; for tlieir na- 
vigation, by which, at one tnne, they engrossed the 



TilSTOalCAL LETTERS. SI 5 

carrying trade of Europe ; for tlieir possessions in 
the Kast indies, and for their naval strengtii, which 
enabled them for many years to dispute the domini- 
on of the seas with Great- Britain, and at one period 
to insult the proud metropolis of her English rival. 
Political faction has been the rock upon which the 
prosperity of the Hollanders has been wrecked. Ac- 
customed to be governed by Stadtholders, or Princes 
of the states, they occasionally abolished that office ; 
and the whole republic was long convulsed by the 
conflicts of the party of the Stadtholders and of that 
of Louvestein. The house of Nassau has enjoyed 
the chief executive dignity of the commonwealth. 
This house boasts great antiquity, and some of its 
princes were men of admirable abilities, particularly 
William lil. who succeeded to the British crown, 
and still retained in his hands a general superin- 
tending authority over the affairs of Holland. Ever 
since that period Great Britain had a prevailing in- 
fluence in her political concerns, until the com- 
mencement of the French revolution. In the year 
1795, the whole country was overrun by the French, 
and the Stadtholder was compelled to seek, for him- 
self and his family, an asylum in England. The 
connexion of Holland with Great Britain under 
William HI, and her association with France in 
1795, have been the cause of her decay. The French 
government, treating her first as an independent 
power in the form of a republic, then erecting the 
country into a kingdom, under a prince of the house 
of Bonaparte, had completely succeeded in breakino- 
down the spirit of the people, in absorbing their 
riches, and in the incorporation of the inhabitants 
into the French empire, under the name of Depart- 
ments. The fate of Holland affords an awful ad- 
monition to weak states how they enter into asso* 



216 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

ciations with powerf'jl ones ; and warns a free peo- 
ple to confide for security in nothing but their own 
industry and valor. Louis, a brother of Napoleon, 
and for a while the phantom king oi Holland, after 
the usurpations of the French, sunk into obscurity. 
Recent revolutions have again changed her destiny. 
Holland, the ancient United Provinces of the Ne- 
therlands, and the late Belgic Provinces, have, by 
the dismemberment of Napoleon's empire, been 
formed into the kingdom of the Netherlands, which 
is acknowledged by the monarchs of Europe in the 
last treaty of Vienna, as existing under the sove- 
reignty of the prince of Orange Nassau. 

DENMARK. 

Denmark, in ancient times, was the country of 
the Teutones and the Cimbrians, and afterwards 
furnished those bands of hardy adventurers who in- 
vaded England, and laid waste the maritime parts 
of Europe. The government, in its origin, was an 
elective monarchy, and as tranquillity or intestine 
broils prevailed in Germany, was independent or 
dependent on that Empire. As Christianity spread 
in the north of the European continent, tiie sove- 
reigns of Denmark were converted to the Gospel ; 
but, although they extended their possessions along 
the southern shores of the Baltic, none of them 
make any great figure in history, till about the year 
1387, when the celebrated Margaret of Waldemar 
began to reign. By esjwusing the king of Norway 
she became his heir, and succeeded in causing her- 
self to be chosen queen of Sweden. By her policy 
she extorted from the three kingdoms, in 1397, the 
treaty of Calmar, which contained an engagement 
for the perpetual union of the people of Sweden, 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 217 

rCoivvay and Denmark, under the same crown. The 
successors of Margaret were feeble or cruel princes, 
and Sweden, in 1523, was wrested from the crown 
of Denmark by the heroism of Gustavus Vasa. It 
is the house of Kolstein that possesses the Danish 
throne. This house, branches of which reign in 
Russia and in Sweden, attained royal power A. D. 
1448, by election, in the person of Christian I. 
Christian IT. guilty of ail sorts of excesses, was dri- 
ven from his throne, became a fugitive and a prison- 
er, but finally died a penitent, aged 78 years, ten of 
which he reigned, nine he passed in exile, and twen- 
ty-seven as a captive. Christian 111. to whom 
Christian II. was indebted for his libera,tion from a 
dungeon, is represented as an able prince, who es- 
tablished Luthcranism in Denmark, and under 
whose reign Norway was firmly united to his king- 
dom. In the year 1G60 a very singular revolution 
occurred : the crown, at that period elective^^ was 
made hereditary in tlie posterity of Frederick III. 
This occurrence took place in consequence of the 
arrogance of the nobility. The clergy and the com- 
monalty, depressed by the nobles, determined to 
rescue themselves from oppression by throwing 
their weight into the scale of the executive branch 
of the government. Accordingly, in an assembly 
of the three orders of the state, held at Copenhagen, 
the bishop and the burgomaster of that city, both 
popular characters, suddenly proposed to render the 
crown hereditary, and immediately, in the name of 
the classes which they represented, made a tender 
to that effect to the sovereign. The nobles, taken 
without warning, followed the example ; and thus 
the world beheld the extraordinary spectacle of a 
whole people making a voluntary surrender of their 
liberties. The year 1772 is distinguished in Da- 
T 



318 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

nish history by tlie misfortunes of Matilda, sister of 
George III. king of Great Britain, and wife of Chris- 
tian VII. This unhappy woman had obtained a 
complete ascendency over her husband, and, taking 
into her own hands the management of public busi- 
ness, had elevated to power persons that were odi- 
ous to the people. This did not escape the notice 
of the queen dowager, who was mother-in-law of 
Christian YII. She did not fail to excite popular 
discontent against her rival Matilda and her favo- 
rite, whose name was Struenzee. Seizing a conve- 
nient moment, the queen dowager and her adhe- 
rents extorted from the kmg, whose mind had been 
previously filled with jealousy, an order for the ar- 
rest of Matilda and her favorite. Struenzee, and a 
friend of his named Brandt, were beheaded, and the 
queen only escaped death by the interposition of the 
British ambassador at the court of Denmark. 

The principal wars of the Danes have been with 
Sweden, if we except a contest of about five years 
duration against Austria, in the war of thirty years. 
They have been more distinouished in modern times 
by commercial than by military transactions ; and, 
independently of their possessions in Europe, com- 
prizing Denmark proper, Hoi stein and Norway, 
they could at one period boast of colonics in Africa, 
Asia, and America. Of these, however, they were, 
for the most part, stripped by the British, dur- 
ing the w^ar which commenced in the year 1803 
between France and England. The policy of the 
Danes, during the wars of the French revolution, 
was pacific ; and they did not relinquish it till 
compelled to take an active part in the conflict 
by their more powerful neighbors. Copenhagen, 
tlie Capital of Denmark, has been treated with much 
cruelty by the British. In the year 1801 they bom- 



HISTORICAL LEITERS. 219 

barded it with great slaughter, in order to compel 
the Danish government to relinquish certain princi- 
ples of maritime law inimical to the commercial and 
naval interests of England. The Danes, after ma- 
king a gallant defence, were obliged to submit, and 
sign a convention agreeable to the British ministry. 
In the year 1807, the Englis!) again appeared before 
Copenhagen in force, and, investing it also by land, 
obliged tlie Danes to deliver up the ships of war 
then in their possession The alleged reason for 
this latter coercion, was the danger of the Danish 
navy's falling into the hands of the French to the 
detriment of Great Britain. 

Denmark adhered to the French interest until 
the overthrow of Napoleon atLeipsic in 1813, when, 
menaced by the Swedish forces under prince Ber- 
nadotte, she sought for peace, and concluded a treaty 
with Great Britain and Sweden, to the latter of 
whom she ceded Norway in exchange for Swedish 
Pomerania. The British restored what they had 
conquered from the Danes; and the latter, having 
been subsidized by Great Britain, joined their 
troops to those of the allies againt France. 

SWEDEN. 

The early history of Sweden, like that of all the 
northern German communities, is but faintly dis- 
cernible through the night of time. That country 
is the ancient Scandinavia, the store-house of those 
swarms of Barbarians who, crossing the Baltic sea, 
spread terror and desolation wherever they advan- 
ced. The monarchy, like that of Denmark, was 
originally elective. By the union of Calmar, in the 
year 1397, Sweden became a mere tributary king- 
dom to Denmark. This Union, which was eflfected 



220 HISTORICAL LETTERS* 

by tlie abilities of Margaret of Waldemar, who was 
denominated the Semiiamis of the North, was iu 
the end productive of great inquietudes : After her 
death a stru^i^le ensued between the Danes and the 
Swecles, for subjection on the one side, and for in- 
dependence on the other. At length Christian li. 
of Denmark, a bloody and remorseless tyiant, in or- 
der to destroy every hope of freedom in the hearts of 
the people of Sweden, conceived the gigantic wick- 
edness of butchering all the noble and powerful 
families of that kingdom. From this dire tragedy, 
one gallant youth escaped ; and seeking shelter 
among the Dalecarlians, a race of hardy moun- 
taineers, roused them to a sense of their degrada- 
tion and to an act of vengeance. This youth was 
Gustavus Vasa, whose story has furnished a subject 
for the drama, and who, putting himself at the head 
of the peasantry of Dalecailia, triumphantly repulsed 
the Danes, and for his valor and patriotism was re- 
warded witli the crown. The royal authority con- 
tinued in the house of Vasa untd the abdication of 
Christiana in the year 1654, when the crown was 
transferred to the house of Deux Fonts, of which the 
celebrated Charles XII. was a descendant. This 
prince, and Gustavus Adolplms, who was of the 
house of Vasa, were the most distinguished sove- 
reigns of the Swedish monarchy. Both of them 
were addicted to war, and both are believed to have 
perished by assassination. The wars of Sweden 
nave been, in general, with the Danes, the Gennans, 
the Poles, and the Russians; sometimes for liberty, 
often for revenge, but chiefly for extension of ter- 
ritory. 

Sweden has been prolific in sovereigns of singu- 
lar fortune. Gustavus Adolphus, perhaps, is the 
only one of her monarchs, who, besides Gustavus 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 221 

Vasa, truly deserves the name of hero : his reign was 
a period offflorj for the Swedes, who may boast, 
without blushino;, of the battle of Lcipsic, anA of that 
of Lutzen, where the brave Adolphus fell in the 
year 1632. The heroism of Charles XII. has been 
regarded by many as a species of insanity ; and the 
rei^n of F/ric XIV. the eldest son of Gus'tavus Vasa, 
who at one time aspired to the hand of queen Eliza- 
beth of Enc^land, was a continued scene of profliga- 
cy and madness. A branch of the house of Holstein 
succeeded to that of Deux Fonts; of this branch 
Gustavus III. who was assassinated in 1793, was 
the most respectable sovereign : His efforts to main- 
tain the royal authority, although prosperous in the 
first instance, eventually cost him his life. He fell 
by the hand of an assassin named Ankerstrom. His 
successor, Gustavus IV. after a long struggle against 
France, and impoverishing Sweden by the war in 
which he embarked, was dethroned on the 1 4th of 
March 1809. He first sought an asylum in Great 
Britain, but afterwards returned to the continent, 
and resided for some time as a private geiitleman in 
Switzerland, under the name of Count Gottorp. On 
his being driven out of the kingdom, the duke of 
Sudermania, in May, of the same year, was made 
king under the title' of Charles XHl. The duke was 
uncle to Gustavus IV. and was regent during: the 
minority of the exiled monarch, who came to the 
regal dignity at the age of fourteen. The sequel of 
this affair exposes the interference of France in the 
traniiaction. Marshal Bernadotte, prince of Ponte- 
Corvo, a distinguished French general, passed over 
to Sweden, abjured the Roman Catholic creed, and 
was declared heir-apparent to the Swedish crown. 
Charles XIII. having died, Bernadotte is now king 
of Sweden and Norway, the latter country having 
t2 



222 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

been wrested from Denmark, to reward the new 
1< ng for his services, whilst crown-prince of Swe- 
den, to the allied powers against Napoleon, to 
whose downfall he ably contributed. The nominal 
equivalent to Denmark lor Norway, was Swedish 
Pomerania. Of all the marshals and princes crea- 
ted by I^./naparte, Charles John Bernadotte is the 
only one who has had the good fortune to survive 
the overthrow of the emperor of the French with 
an increased authority. He is acknowledged as a 
legitimate sovereign by th« old monarchical races of 
Europe, who have hitherto supported him against 
the claims of the house of Gustavus the IVth. which 
is represented as not having entirely relinquished 
the hope of obtaining possession of the crown. 

C. 



LETTER XXIV. 

Formation of the Kingdoms of Modern Europe, 
after the fall of the Roman Empire, 

RUSSIA. 



^ 



The fables of history, as well as those of bio^ra-" 
hy, owe their origin to the inattention of mankind. 
he early stages of a nation's progress to grandeur, 
and the nrst actions of a great man, are, in general, 
too obscure and insignificant to attract notice. It is 
not until both the one and the other have performed 
some distinguished deed, or until, from their power, 
their influence begins to be felt in the society of na- 
tions or of men, that the human mind is drawn to a 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 223 

serious consideration of their birth and condition. 
Iniapnation must then supply uhat authentic re- 
cords do not furnish, and tancj, volatile and inven- 
tive, fre(|ucntl^ creates incidents which reason will 
not sanction. Sucli, emphaticallv, is the case with 
Ivussian history, which is made to commence, by 
men of the most diligent research, about the middle 
of the ninth century. One Rurick, who governed a 
wide population on the shores of tiie Baltic, either 
invited by the people of Novorogod, or impelled 
by ambition, led thither an army, and finally esta- 
blished himself in the country. The successors of 
this chieftian inherited a divide*! empire, which in 
the end fell a prey to the Tartars, who governed it 
from the thirteenth to the middle of the fifteenth 
century, until Ivan Wasieliwitz freed his inherit 
tance from ignondnious servitude. On the death of 
Ivan II. confusion was produced in the government, 
and order was not restored until the family of Ro- 
manoff was called to the throne. From this family 
Peter the Great descended; and he is very justly 
regarded as the founder of the present Russian em- 
pire. The empress Klizabetli was the last sove- 
reign of the house of Romanoff: 8he was followed 
by Peter III of the Holstein family, who was de- 
posed and put to death at the instigation, and by the 
paramours, of his wife Catharine U. who succeeded 
him on the throne Catharine reigned thirty-four 
years ; anri in the midst of the most execrable vo- 
luptuousness, governed Russia with masculine abi- 
lity, and filled Europe with the fame of her policy 
and the renown of her arms. Those who are desi- 
rous of gaining particular knowledge of the institu- 
tions of this empire, are advised to study the trans- 
actions of the government of this princess, and those 
of tlie reign of Peter the Great. Paul I. was the 



224 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

sijccessor of Catharine II. He was an eccentric 
man, and too much under the influence of a sirbli- 
mated imagination. Durinu; his sovereignty the 
Russians astonished t! e world by their warlike ef- 
forts, and iniinortalized their valor under the con- 
duct of SuwMrrow, who had also distinguished him- 
self in the time of Catharine. The great military 
exertions of Paul, however, exhausted the resources 
of the empire so much, that he rendered himself un- 
popular ; and a combiiiation having been entered 
into among the leadins; men of the court, he was 
|5rivately assassinatetl A D. 1801. The faction 
which put Paul te death immediately united in pro- 
claiming the present incumbent of tlie throne, Alex- 
ander Paulowitz, einperor of all the Uussias. This 
prince, who is represented as humane, and naturally 
inclined to peace, has been engaged in several wars 
with France, m conjunction with Austria or Prussia, 
or botli. The two most memorable of these were 
those of 1806-7 and 1812. That of i80G-7 was 
tei minated by the treaty of Tilsit on the 9th of July 
of the former year. By this treaty Prussia was re- 
du 0(1 to a third rate power, and Napoleon's politi- 
cal association, known by the name of the confede- 
ration of the Rhine, was extended to a part of Po- 
land. This confederacy, embracing, in eftect, the 
idea- of Henry IV. of France, placed the French 
enipire at tlie head of an armed league, composed 
of the principal states of Europe ; and promised, in 
time, to realize the expression of Frederick the 
Great ot Prussia, who asserted, thaf if he were king 
of France there should not be a cannon fired on the 
European continent without his consent. The war 
of 1812, however, put au end to those splendid ptos- 
pects Napoleon, who invaded the flnssiau empire 
at tlie head of four hundred thousand warriors, and 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 225 

seized upon Moscow after having beaten and over- 
turned every thin^ in his way thither, found in 
the severity of that northern climate an enemy which 
no hunjan force could resist. Compelled to retreat 
tor want of supplies, and incessantly harassed by aa 
exasperated population, it was in vain that the 
French battalions sustained their former glory in 
every combat. Under the circumstances in which 
they were placed, victory led to the same result as 
defeat; and perishing by thousands in the surround- 
ing snows, the remnant of their fugitive and shat- 
tered columns, deserted by their Prussian allies, 
regained the frontiers of the French empire in a 
condition strangely contrasted with the bright visi- 
ons with which the campaign had been commenced. 
The Russians, in 1813 and 1814, followed up their 
blows ; and all Germany, smarting under the rod of 
Napoleon, rose ai2;ainst him in a mass, and, seconded 
by Spain and aided by the delinquency of Italy, 
hurled him from his throne. By the treaty of Vi- 
enna in 1815, the emperor Alexander gained an 
accession of territory in Poland, which he has erect- 
ed into a kingdom. He has, also, in conjunction 
with the sovereign of Austria, the kings of Prussia 
and France, and other monarchs of the continent of 
Europe, formed a Holy League; which is a treaty 
of crowned heads to arrest the progress of political 
reformation. 

The principal wars in which the true interests of 
Russia have been most consulted, are those with the 
Turks. Catharine II. whilst she was not inattentive 
to European politics, pushed her conquests, more 
than any other Russian sovereign, on the side of the 
Black Sea, and in the direction of Asiatic Turkey. 
The most splendid achievement of her reign was, 
perhaps, the acquisition of the Crimea, the ancient 



226 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Taurica Chersonesus, the peaceable possession oi' 
which was secured to her in 1791, by the Turks, 
who ceded the fortress of Oczakow. It was in the 
transactions of t!ie Crimea, that Potemkin, the favo- 
rite of Catharine, and a very extraordinary man, 
distinaiiished himself. The history of his life is 
equally interesting to the philosopher, the states^ 
man, and the soldier. 

It would be unpardonable to omit in this letter, 
all notice of Catharine I. who, by the graces of her 
person and the force of her understanding, rose to 
the imperial dignity. A peasant by birth, and ex- 
posed in her early years to the caprices and mise- 
ries of so humble a fortune, in the course of her sin- 
gular adventures she attracted the regard of Peter 
the Great, and gaining an ascendency over him by 
the wisdom of her counsel and the excellence of her 
judgment, he married her, and caused her to be 
solemnly crowned empress of Russia. At the death 
of her husband she ascended the throne, guided and 
supported by the abilities and the influence of a fa- 
vorite whose name was ^.lenzikolF. History almost 
takes the complexion of Romance in reciting the 
tale of this wonderful woman. In infancy an object 
of charity, at fourteen years married to a Swedish 
dragoon, from whom she was immediately separated 
never more to meet, next a prisoner of war, then the 
mistress of general Bauer, of Menzikoff, and of Pe- 
ter the Great, who eventually espoused her, the 
incidents of her life are not exceeded in singularity 
by those of the most extravagantly drawn heroine 
of chivalry. Duiing her reign Menzikoff flourished, 
the chief of her cabinet and the absolute lord of the 
state. But, corrupted by power and proudly arro- 
gant, the death of Catharine was the signal for his 
downfall. He was banished to Siberia, and died 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 227 

there in 1729. Under the reign of (he empress 
Anne, two extraorrlinarj men arose to chequer, by 
the strange vicissitudes of their lives, the scene of 
Russian transactions. Tiiese personages were Biron 
and Munich, the first a Courlander, raised bj royal 
bounty to be duke of that duchy ; and the latter a 
Danish military adventurer of considerable merit, 
who had been distinguished by the partiality of the 
sovereigns of Russia. Biron was the favorite of 
Anne, and governed the nation with imperial sway ; 
but he sunk beneath the genius of Munich, who oc- 
casioned him to be banished ; a sentence which was 
siibsequently inflicted on Munich himself. What 
is most curious in the hisiory of these two individu- 
als, IS the circumstance of their recall from Siberia, 
and their meeting in their old age at St. Petersburg, 
the theatre of their former intrigues, and from which 
they had been absent so many years. 

Russia embraces in her immense expansion a ter- 
ritory that nearly touches America in a north eas- 
tern direction, bounds on China, sw^eeps over the 
bosom of Asia, through the Caspian and the Black 
Seas, in a northwestern direction, to the shores of 
the Baltic, and the Gulph of Finland. This large 
tract of country has been brought under Russian do- 
mination by gradual accretions under the two Ivans, 
who drove out the Tartars, under the house of Ro- 
manoff, particularly Alexis Romanoff" and Peter the 
Great, his son, and under Catharine II. 

It IS computed that Russia occupies the twenty- 
eighth part of the entire surface of the globe, and 
the ninth part of the solid earth. Over this vast 
space are spread forty millions of souls, two millions 
five hundred thousand of whom are supposed to in- 
habit Asiatic Russia. But this great population 
comprehends people of almost every description j 



228 HISTORICAL LETTEHS. 

various Tartar hordes, tribes of Cossacks, and per- 
sons of German origin. In the government of such 
a discordant mass, the maxims of state must neces- 
sarily be diversified : Accordingly, the emperor of 
Russia adapts his policy and his plans to the actual 
condition of his subjects, and from local causes is 
frequently obliged to act upon the principles which 
a complete state of civilization, in every part of his 
empire, would render repreliensible. In truth, so- 
ciety as well as law, in Russia, is still in an elemen- 
tary state ; but if that country should ever arrive at 
the high degree of improvement of vvhicli it is sus- 
ceptible, so that all its resources are brought into 
action, the Russians, in a military point of view, 
might become the masters of the earth. It is not, 
however, likely, that, under a dense population, a 
single sovereign would enjoy their present extent 
of territory ; nor can it be reasonably presumed that 
in future times the inhabitants of the shores of Beh- 
ring's straits will submit to the rule of a prince who 
holds his court on the banks of the Neva. 

Russia is divided into about tifty local govern- 
ments, the first of which is that of Moscow. The 
city of that name was the capital of the empire be- 
fore St. Petersburg was built; it is enclosed by a 
rampart of twenty-six miles in circumference, con- 
tains about 300,000 souls, and is supposed to be tlie 
largest city of Russia. The sovereigns of the na- 
tion have, in general, been crowned there. It was 
burnt by its governor, Rostopchin, at the time Na- 
poleon entered it ; but has been since rebuilt. 

By the first partition of Poland, in 1772, Catha- 
rine II. acquired 1,226,000 subjects ; by a secoad 
partition, in 1793, she acquired 5,750,000 1 and by a 
final partition in 1795, 1,500,000 more, Frederick 
the Great, king of Prussia, originally projected this 



HISTORICAL LETTEUS. 239 

ilivision in the year 1772, in conjunction with the 
empress of Russia and the emperor of Germany. 
The dissentions of the Poles, in the choice of their 
kings, who were elective, furnished a pretext for 
foreign interference; and the spirit of party among 
the nobles, prevailing over every other consideration, 
Poland was for a time blotted out of the map of Eu- 
rope. General Kosciusko, in the year 1794, made 
a courageous stand, at the head of a Polish army, in 
defence of the liberties of his country ; but the Rus- 
sians were victorious, and signalized the triumph of 
injustice by the most sanguinary atrocitier,. The 
brave Kosciusko survived the freedom of Poland; 
and after wandering for some time from place to 
place, finally took up his residence near Paris. He is 
now dead. Napoleon, in his campaign of 1807, 
against the Russians, made use of the popularity of 
Kosciusko with his countrymen, and induced the 
old general to address the Poles in a very energetic 
manner, inviting them to unite with the emperor of 
the French in order to effect the emancipation of 
Poland. All that Napoleon did for the country, 
notwithstanding his promises, was to incorporate 
the Poles into his armies, and to erect Warsaw into 
a duchy, more as a military post to hold the Russi- 
ans in check, than as a mark of his friendliness to 
Polish independence. Mr. Campbell, the Scotch 
poet, has pathetically described, in his Pleasures of 
Hopey the fall of Poland. The duchy of Warsaw 
having been ceded to Russia by the last treaty of 
Vienna, the emperor Alexander has given the Poles 
a separate constitution, which is regal, and himself 
the king. This kingdom has been irrevocably uni- 
ted, by its new master, to the Russian empire. 



230 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 



LETTER XXV. 



ASM, including Turk ey, Arabia, Persia, India and 
the Tartaries. 

Asia is a country of all others the most interest- 
ing to a Christian people. It is in that quarter of 
the world, which is larger than Europe and Africa, 
that the race of man is supposed to have originated, 
and where Christ is known to have been born and 
crucified. Of this portion of the globe, the empire 
of the Turks is the most contiguous to Europe. 
The power of their chief bestrides, like a Colossus, 
the ancient Hellespont, (now called the strait of 
Gallipoli, which is defended by the Dardanelles,) 
and enforces the tenets of Malioniet where the cross 
was once displayed with imperial magnificence. 
But the crescent is waning to obscurity; and the 
princes of Christendom, instigated by ambitious as 
well as by religious motives, threaten to drive back 
these infidels to the land of their ancestors. 

The Turks were originally a Scythian horde, re- 
siding in the vicinity of Mount Imaus, about the 
centre of Asia. Bursting from the chains of servi- 
tude in which they were held by a neighboring pow- 
er, they spread themselves over the plains of Scy- 
thia, drove before them, or subdued, the hordes who 
had previously inhabited the country, and establish- 
ed an extensive empire, which, in time, was broken 
and dismembered. The hordes of the west, freed 
from their sway, precipitated themselves upon Eu- 
rope, where their descendants compose a part of the 
states at present in existence. The eastern hordes 
threw themselves into Persia, became united with 
the Saracens in that part of Asia, whom they even- 



H[STORieAL L¥/rTERS. 231 

tually siibjiigatcd, after imbibing from them tlie 
doctrines of Mahomet. About tlie eleventh centurj' 
the Turkish chieitaius took the name of Sultan, and 
proclaimed themselves lieutenants of the caliphs of 
Bagilad, which v/as the ancient Babylon, seated on 
the Tigris, and then the seat of the Saracen empire. 
In the thirteenth century the Turks established a 
new sovereignty on the ruins of the Saracens, and 
parcelled out their kingdom into petty seignories, 
the lords of which, as they rose to supremacy, insti- 
tuted dynasties, w^hose names only tended to gratify 
pride and confuse history. Othman, an emir or 
prince of a district in Asia Minor, taking advantage 
of the times in which, he lived and the death of his 
sovereign, seized upon a portion of the country in 
liis Gv/n right, and attracted by his valor and wis- 
dom new troops of Turks to aid him. These, view- 
ing in him the founder of a rising kingdom, assumed 
ihe, name Ottomans in honor of their leader. Oth- 
man died A. D. 1326. Bursa, or Prusa, in the first 
instance, was tlie capital of his empire. This city, 
celebrated for its fountains and the elegance of its 
mosques, or Mahometan churches, stands at the foot 
of Mount Olympus, only ninety-nine miles south of 
Constantinople. Orchan, who succeeded Othman^ 
carried his arms into Europe, and espoused the 
daughter of the emperor of Constantinople. Orchan 
was followed by Amu rath I. a v^'arlike prince, -who 
transferred tlie seat of his empire to Adrianople, and 
instituted the military order of the Janizaries. Ba- 
jazet was the successor of Amuratli, and mounted 
the throne in 1389. lie v/as restless and ambitious, 
and, in consequence of the rapid success of his arms, 
was called the Thunderbolt. He subjugated Thes- 
saly, Macedonia and Bulgaria, and had the honor of 
obtaining a great victory at Nicopolis, near the Da- 



^32 HISTORICAL LESTKKS. 

nube, in 1396, over a Christian army under Sigis- 
rnond, king of Huniiary. But in the year 1-102, he 
was totally defeated on tl.e plains of Angora, by tho 
celebrated Tinuir, or Tamerlane. Some writers 
affirm that Timur exposed him to public view in an 
iron cage, whilst others assert that the victor treat- 
ed him with great libera}itj. This disaster was in 
some measme retrieved bj Mahomet I. Amu rath 
[I. obtained the crown in 142*2. He defeated the 
Hungarians at Varna with great slaughter, and was 
successful in almost all his warlike en terprizes, ex- 
cept in that against George Castriot, the celebrated 
Scanderbeg, king of Albania, Mho freed himself from 
the tyranny of the Othmans, maintained the rights 
of his family, and obliged Amurath to conclude 
peace with him on honorable and advantageous 
terms. In tlie year 1453 Mahomet il. the most 
illustrious of the Ottoman emperors, took Constan- 
tinople by assault, and made it the capital of the 
Turkish empire. In 1520 Soliman II. surnamed 
the magnificent, succeeded his father Selim I. He 
made alarming inroads into Europe: In 1521 he 
took Belgrade; in the next year Rhodes; in 1524 
he captured Breda, and laid siege to Vienna; but 
he was compelled to retire from the latter place 
with the loss of 80,000 men. The first peace be- 
tween Turkey and France took place under this 
prince with Francis I. Vienna was besieged a se- 
cond time by the Turks in 1683, under Slahomet 
IV. but was relieved by John Sobieski, king of Po- 
land. Mustapha IV. occupies the throne at pre- 
sent, elevated to that dignity by the Janizaries, 
who had previously dethroned' Selim III. 
* ?The possessions of the Turks in Europe are Bos- 
nia, Servia, Albania, Morea, Greece, Macedonia, 
Bulgaria, Romelia, Vv'^allachia, and Moldavia. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 233 

As wars are carried on, from time to time, between 
them and tl'.e Russians, and peace, with them, is in 
general, but loosely observed, it is impossible pre- 
cisely to define the present extent or number of the 
Turkish provinces on the European side of Mar- 
mora and the Black Sea- On the Asiatic side they 
possess the finest countries, once held by the Ro- 
mans. These are the several districts of Asia 
Minor, and Syria, Palestine, &c The Grand 
Seignor can also boast considerable authority and 
influence in Arabia. His authority over Egypt, ia 
Africa, is very precarious. 

The Koran is both Bible and law to the Moslems. 
The Elima, or learned, tlie highest order in the em- 
pire, are its interpreters At the head of the Elima 
IS the Mufti, or Shaikh-alislam, whose decrees are 
called fatwas. Europe and Asia have each a Cadi- 
lesker, or military judge, appointed annually. The 
next in dignity is the Istombul I^flfendi, or judge of 
Constantinople. In the courts of other principal 
cities Mulas preside; and in those of less note jus- 
tice is administered or sold by a ('adi. At Bursa, 
Adrianople, and Constantinople, there are univer- 
sities, for the instruction of those who are devoted 
to the study of religion, or of civil and religious ju- 
risprudence. The office of professor is called Ma- 
daris. The ecclesiastical order consists of the 
Shaikh, who preaches every Friday in the mosques ; 
of the Khatib, who recites the Khutba, attesting the 
unity of God and the prophetic character of Maho- 
met ; of the Imam, who perfoi ms a certain service 
five times a day ; and of the Muezzin, who, from 
the top of the Minarets, or towers, summons the 
Moslems to prayers. 

The Grand Vizier is the chief executive officer of 
the stat<^, and formerly presided in the Divan, which 
u2 



234 HISTORICAL LE.TERS. 

was composed of six councillors, afterwards in- 
creased to twelve. The Sultan, or Grand Seignor, 
frequently attends tlie deliberations of this body in 
person. A Pacha of three tails is the supreme de- 
legated governor of a province. It is believed that 
this distinction arises out of the original constitu- 
tion of the Turkish dignities, designated by the 
number of cavalry the officer commands. If the 
number be double that of a common Munsub, or 
disunity, the commander is a Pacha of two tails; if 
triple, he is a Pacha of three tails. A Pachalic is 
divided into military districts called Sangiacs, or 
Standards. The Janizaries, Spahis, Yaims, Timari- 
ots, (a kind of vassals holding lands or other benefi- 
ces in virtue of military service) are obliged, in case 
of war, to unite under a commander called Sangiac 
bey, and wait the orders of the Pacha. 

The law of the Turks permits poligamy, which, 
however, in strictness, is confined to four wives. 
They are a people fond of indolence, moderate in 
their eating ; and generally charitable to strangers. 
They believe in one God, and consider Mahomet as 
his principal prophet. Constantinople is still the 
capital of the empire. 

Arabia has been divided into three parts : 1. 
Arabia Petrca ; 2. Arabia Deserta ; and, 3. Arabia 
Felix. Each of these denominations is descriptive 
of the portion of the country to which it appertains. 
The smallest of the three divisions is Arabia Petrea, 
which is mountainous and barren, and differs very 
little from Arabia Deserta, which, in general, is a 
sterile sand Arabia Felix is the most fertile, and 
produces frankincense, myrrh, balm of Gilead, and 
the best of coffee, which is of superior quality in the 
vicinity of Mocha. The Arabians of the desart are 
at the same time herdsmen and plunderers ; they 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 2S5 

live in tents, and remove from place to place, for the 
sake of pasture and pillajje. The caravans which 
travel from Bassora to Aleppo, and from Egypt to 
Mecca, frequently feel the efl'ects of the predatory 
disposition of these wandering tribes. 

Arabia is chiefly distinguished in history by com- 
merce and religion. Mahomet attracted the inha- 
bitants from the pastoral life, to which, fiom the 
earliest times, they had been accustomed ; and, as 
his doctrines were propagated by the sword, his 
proselytes, conquering Persia and Egypt, led them- 
selves into temptations which the gains ot trade in 
those countries hehl forth. They carried on com- 
merce with India in its usual channel from the Per- 
sian gulph, and advancing beyond the boundaries of 
ancient navigation, brought many of the most preci- 
ous commodities otthe East directly from the coun- 
tries which produced them. In order to engross all 
the profits arising from the sale of them, Bassora 
was founded, a few years after the conquest of Per- 
sia, by the Caliph Omar, on the w estern banks of 
the great stream formed by the junction of the Eu- 
phrates and the Tigris. Goods imported from India 
were conveyed from this new city into all the wes- 
tern parts of Asia. Mahomet himself, in his religi- 
ous institutions, had an eye to traffic. He enjoined 
on all his followers to visit once in their lifetime the 
Caabaa, or square building in the temple of Mecca, 
the immemorial object of veneration among his 
countrymen, not only on account of its having been 
chosen (according to their tradition) to be the resi- 
dence of man at his creation, but because it was the 
iirst spot on the earth that was consecrated to the 
worship of God. In order to preserve continually 
upon their minds a sense of obligation to perform 
this duty, he directed, that in all tne multiplied acts 



236 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

of devotion, uhlch his religion prescribes, -true be- 
lievers should always turn their faces towards that 
holy place. In obedience to this injunction, the 
votaries of the prophet advance to Mecca from the 
sliores of the Atlantic on the one hand, and from the 
most remote regions of the East, on the other. Mecca 
is thus crowded, not only with zealous devotees, 
but. with opulent mercliants. By this means a fair 
for trade is established, the greatest, perhaps, on the 
face of the earth. i\!ercantile transactions are car- 
ried on in it to an iuimense value, of which the des- 
patch, the silence, the mutual confidence and good 
faitii in conducting then), are the most unequivocal 
proof. The muslins and chintzes of Bengal and 
the Deccan, the shawls of Cachemcre, the pepper of 
Malabar, the diamonds of Golconda, the cinnamon 
of Ceylon, the nutmegs, doves and mace of the Mo- 
luccas, and an immense number of other Indian 
commodities, form the articles of merchandize at 
these fails of Mecca. 

Mahomet, who gave at the same time a religious 
and a commercial bias to the Arabians, was born at 
Mecca, A. D. 571. He was of the tribe of Koreish, 
and his family was noble. His circumstances, ne- 
vertheless, were mean. In his infancy his father 
died, and the care of him devolved upon his uncle 
Abu Taleb, who was a merchant, and employed 
Mahomet until he became twenty-five years of age, 
as a driver of Camels into Syria. At the age of 
twenty-eight, lu' espoused Cadija, the wealthy wi- 
dow of a trader; and thus becoming one of the 
richest men of Mecca, he aspired to the sovereignty 
of it. Political ambition excited his genius; and 
he finally framed, and successfully propagated, one 
of the grossest impostures that the world ever wit- 
nessed. Ten years after his marriage with Cadija, 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 237 

he put on the appearance of extraordinary sanctity, 
retired every morning to a solitary cave in the vici- 
nity of Mecca, and continiuMl the whole day in 
prayer and meditation. In his fortieth year, he 
proclaimed himself a prophet and the apostle of 
God ; and four years afterwards, began to oppose 
the Paganism of his countrymen, and would have 
fallen a sacrifice to their resentment, if he had not 
been protected by the powerful influence of his un- 
cle. Mahomet invented a system of divinity, which 
he pretended had been revealed to him by the Deity, 
in visions, or through the medium of the Angel Ga- 
briel. This system he embodied in tiie Koran, a 
work manifestly selected from the Bible, the works 
of the christian fathers, and such writings and pre- 
cepts as were most in vogue among the Jews. Im- 
postors always deal in mystery ; and the cunning of 
Mahomet has, in that respect, been almost an over- 
match for the prying curiosity of his enemies, who 
knowing his ignorance of letters, were determined 
to ascertain by whose assistance this new prophet 
had been enabled to compile a work of so much pu- 
rity of style as the Koran. It was at length, how- 
ever, ascertained, that it was the performance of 
Abdia Ben Salem, a Persian Jew, and of Sergius, a 
monk of the sect of Nestorians. The ingenuity of 
Mahomet, notwithstanding, furnished many curious 
fables for the Koran ; and he proved himself a match 
for the puzzling questions put to him by his oppo- 
nents. They demanded of him a miracle; but he 
cut that m2.tter short, by alleging, that God had 
sent Moses and Jesus with miracles, and yet men 
would not be obedient to his word ; and that, there- 
fore, he now had sent him, in the last place, without 
miracles to force them bv the power of the sword 
to do his will. And pursuant to this subtilty, he 



2S8 HISTORICAL LETTEH 9, 

commanded his disciples to desist from argument 
and to fight for tlieir doctrines. On the death of 
Cadija, he married three wives, and in the twelfth 
year of his mission, he g:ave out that he had been 
favored vvith a journey to Heaven, attended by the 
Angel Gabriel. The incredible falsehoods which he 
propagated on this occasion, lost him many friends, 
and he was compelled to fly from Mecca to Medi- 
na ; which flight is called Hegira, and is the period 
from which the Mahometans reckon their years. It 
takes its beginning from the l6th of July, A. 1). 622. 
He now erected liis standard and armed his follow- 
ers, and commenced expeditions against tlie trading 
caravans between ?.iecca and Syria, and thereby ac- 
quired considerable wealth. In 624, he made war 
on those Arab tribes who professed the Jewish reli- 
gion. In the same year, he was defeated and dan- 
gerously wounded, which staggered the faith of ma- 
ny of his proselytes. He then invented the notion 
oi'fate, and asserted, that all Musselmen who die in 
battle, go immediately to Paradise. He afterwards 
made a truce with his enemies, which he subsequent- 
ly broke, got possession of Mecca, and in 631 his 
religion and empire were established throughout all 
Arabia. He died in that year, of poison, which had 
been given to him, three years before, by an Arabi- 
an girl in the City of Caibar. The poison was ad- 
ministered on a shoulder of mutton, which Mahomet 
tasting, but not liking, spit out. He survived for 
the time, yet it finally killed him. The girl being 
asked why she did it, answered, " that sne had a 
mind to try whether he was a true prophet; for, if 
he. was, he certainly would know that the meat was 
poisoned ; and if he was not, it would be a good 
thing to get rid of so wicked a tyrant." The im- 
postor was buried at Medina. 



HISTORICAL LETTEI^.S. S39 

The Koran contains some fine moral sentences ; 
but Mahomet was a voluntuary. and he made his pa- 
radise to consist in cartial delights. Those that die 
believers, he tells them, are to enter into pleasant 
gardens, where rivers and fountains perpetually 
ilow, and there be attended by beautiful women. 
Whatever could excite the sensual appetites of the 
Arabians, was held out by way of inducement; and 
whatever could inspire horror, such as the drinking 
of boiling and stinking water, the breathing exceed- 
ingly hot winds, was denounced in terror to unbe- 
lievers. Me is thought to have deduced his maxims 
from the temperament of his own constitution. He 
M-as addicted to women, and he, therefore, made 
that one of the circumstances of supreme felicity .• 
Wine did not agree with him, and hence his follow- 
ers are forbidden to use it. 

Persia has always enjoyed a considerable name 
in history; but, like other nations, she has experien- 
ced great vicissitudes of fortune. The Persians 
succeeded to the power of the Medes and Babyloni- 
ans, and grew in splendor till they threatened, under 
Xerxes, (who is said to have invaded Greece with 
two millions of men,) to inundate Europe. The 
Greeks were avenged for this insult by the triumphs 
of Alexander the Great. Seleucus Nicator, one of 
Alexander's Captains, usurped, and his successors 
lost, the Macedonian command over the East. About 
the same time that they resigned to the Romans the 
country on this side of Mount Taurus, they were 
driven from all the provinces of Upper Asia by the 
Parthians. The power of the Parthians was, how- 
ever, in turn, subverted by Andohir, or Artaxerxes, 
the founder of a new dynasty, which, under the 
name of Sassanides, governed Persia till the inva- 
sion of the Arabs. This occurred A. D. 226. Ar- 



240 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

taxerxes raised the Persian monarch j to great grau- 
deur ; reformed the Magian religion, and by estab- 
lishing tiie authority of the priestliood, secured his 
own power. Zoroaster was the prophet and philo- 
sopher of the Persians, and the Zendavesta the writ- 
ten guide of their faith. Tiic doctrines of that an- 
cient preceptor are singuhir, chiefly for tlic funda- 
mental article of his system, which attempts to 
reconcile moral and physical evil with the attributes 
of a beneficent Creator and Governor of the world : 
The first and original Being, is denominated by 
Zoroaster TimeivUhout Hounds: Kither from the 
blind or the intelligent operation of this Infinite 
Tune, the two secondary, but active, principles of 
the universe were from all eternity produced, 
Ormusd and Ahriman, each of t'nem possessed of 
the powers of creatioii, but each disposed, by his 
invariable nature, to exercise them with different 
designs. The malice of Aliriman has long since 
pierced Ormusd''s egg, or, in other words, has 
violated the harmony of his works. Since that fatal 
irruption, the most minute articles of good and evil 
are mingled and agitated together ; the rankest 
poisons spring up amidst the most salutary plants ; 
deluges, earthquakes, and conilagrations, attest the 
conflict of nature, and the little world of miui is per- 
fectly shaken by vice and misfortune. Tiie Persi- 
ans sacrificed "on the highest mountains, and their 
hymns and prayers were uttered in the op^n air. 

" The code of laws instituted by Artaxerxes, was 
respected as the ground work of the civil and reli- 
gious policy of the Persians, till the last periods of 
the monarchy. Successive revolutions have intro- 
duced new laws and a new relii^ion. They are now 
chiefly Mahometans of the sect of AH, v;ho was the 
cousin and son-iii-law of Mahom.et, and being ex- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 24i 

eluded from the Caliphate bj Omar and Othman, 
he broached certain tenets of his own, and raised a 
party to himself 

The Persians, whilst governed by their native 
Princes, never carried on any trade by sea with In- 
dia, but they were supplied with the elegant manu- 
factures of that part of Asia by land-carria*2:e. The 
commodities destined for the supply of the Northern 
provinces of Persia, were transported on Camels 
from the Banks of the Indus to those of the Oxus, 
down the stream of which they were carried to the 
Caspian Sea, and distributed, partly by land carri- 
age and partly by navigable rivers, through the dif- 
ferent countries bounded on the one hand by the 
Caspian and on the other by the Euxine Sea. The 
commodities of India, intended for the southern and 
interior provinces, proceeded by land from the Cas- 
pian to some of the great rivers, by which they were 
circulated through every part of the country. After 
the overthrow of the empire of the Parthians, all the 
considerable ports of India were frequented by 
traders from Persia, who conveyed the merchandise 
which they procured in exchange for tlie produc- 
tions of their own country, up the Persian Gulph, 
and, by means of the great rivers Euphrates and Ti- 
gris, distributed them through every province of 
their empire. They supplanted the merchants of 
the Arabian Gulph in all the marts of India to which 
silk was brought by sea from China, where it is sup- 
posed to have been originally known. Monopoli- 
zing this article of trade, the Persians raised the 
price of it so high, that two monks, about the year 
551, brought the eggs of the silk worm from China 
in a hollow cane, and with them, the mystery of the 
wonderful manufacture. These eggs were hatched 
by the heat of a dung-hill, fed with the leaves of a 



■242 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

wild mulberry tree, and being propagated througk 
Europe, cheapened the commodity and furnished a 
new object for industry. 

Persia, in the northern and eastern parts, is 
mountainous and cold ; in the middle and south- 
eastern parts it is sandy and desert; in the south- 
ern and western, level and extremely fertile, though 
for several months very hot. The productions of 
the country are various and valuable; Among them 
are dates, pistachio nuts, and poppies that yield the 
finest opium. There are extensive plantations of 
trees for silk worms ; and large flocks of sheep and 
goats. The camels, horses, mules, asses, oxen and 
buffaloes, are the best of their kind. The principal 
manufactures are satins, tabbies, taffetas, brocades, 
gold tissues, gold velvets, calicoes, and camlets. 

For nearly a century past, Persia has been deso^ 
lated by rival competitors for the sovereignty. The 
usurper Nadir Shah was assassinated in 1747, when 
Ahmed Abdallah, one of his generals, founded the 
kingdom of Candahar, annexing to it the provinces 
of Korasau and Segestan, in the eastern part of Per- 
sia, together with the provinces of Hindoostan Pro- 
per, west of the Indus, that had been ceded by the 
Great Mogul, in 1737, to Nadir Shah. Another of 
Nadir's officers, named Kerim-Kahn, obtained the 
sovereignty of all the southern provinces. He trans- 
ferred the seat of government from Ispahan to 
Schiras In 1779 he died, when new pretenders to 
the throne sprung up, harassing the people and de- 
vastating the country. The English nave taken 
great pains to cultivate the friendship of the Persi- 
ans, with a view to the greater security of the Bri- 
tish possessions in India ; whilst the French seek to 
inspire them with a jealousy of the growing power of 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 243 

tlie Enjriish in the East, in order to embarrass the 
government of Great Britain in that quarter. 

India is a roMutry, whose inhabitants are suppos- 
ed to have been the earliest civilized people on the 
globe^ The whole body of the community in that 
part of Asia were divided originally into four orders 
or casts. The first wns the most sacred, and studi- 
ed the principles of reli^ia?] ; were destined to per- 
form its functions, and cultivate the sciences: the 
second was entrusted with the government and de- 
fence of the state : the third was composed of hus- 
bandmen and merchants ; and t\\Q fourth of artisans, 
laborers and servants. None of these can ever quit 
his own cast, or be admitted into another. The 
members of each cast adhere invariably to the pro- 
fession of tlieir forefiithers : from generation to ge- 
neration the same families have followed, and 
continue to follow, one uniform line of life. To this 
isascribable the high degree of perfection observable 
in Indian manufactures. The sovereign is consi- 
dered as the sole universal proprietor of all the land 
in his dominions, and from him is derived every 
species of tenure by which his subjects can hold it. 
The Hindoo code of laws that prevailed in India 
contains the jurisprudence of an enlightened and 
commercial people. Their lawyers are called Pun- 
dits. Their housi'S for religious exercises are deno- 
minated Pagodas, are magnificent, and adorned not 
only with rich offerings, but with the most exquisite 
works of painting and sculpture which the artists 
highest in estimation among them were capable of 
executing. The rites and ceremonies of their reli- 
gion are pompous and splendid. The Brahmins are 
the ministers of religion ; these take their name 
from Brama, the founder of their faith, and author 
of their bible, called Vcdam ; they have a regular 



244 HISTORICAL LETTKIIS. 

hierarchy and gradation of ranks, and are thereby 
enabled to preserve a more absolute dominion over 
the minds of tJie people. Tlie conquests both of the 
Mahomedans and Europeans have had considerable 
effect upon the manners and customs of the natives. 
It is doubtful whether the seclusion of their women 
is of native or Mahomcdan orij2;in. Some of the 
Hindoos in the town of Calcutta have so far depart- 
ed from their former customs that they drive about 
in English chariots, sit upon chairs, and furnish 
their houses with mirrors. The 2i<^nd source of Jn- 
dian literature, the parent of almost every dialect 
from the Persian ^ulph to the China seas, is the 
Sanskreet, a language of the most venerable and 
unfathomable antiquity. 

The Egyptians and Phenicians, the most ancient 
navigators mendor.id in history, were the first peo- 
ple of the west who opened a communication by sea 
with India. The first establishment of any foreign 
power there is supposed to be th.at of the Persians, 
under Darius, the son of Hystaspes. For many 
centuries Alexandria was the chief seat of trade 
with it, and it has been conjectured that it was one 
grand object with Alexander the Great, in order to 
promote his political views, to open to Asia and Eu- 
rope in general more eligible routes for commerce 
with that ilourisliing countiy. Several attempts 
were made, subsequently to the expedition of Alex- 
ander, by princes of Asia, to make conquests in In- 
dia; but none of them proved very successful. From 
about one hundred years befoie the Christian era 
till the close of the fifteenth century, when the Por- 
tuguese, by doubling the Cape of Good Hope, open- 
ed a new communication with the East, no Europe- 
an power acquired territory or fixed its dominions 
there. Intercourse, nevertheless, was kept up; and 



HISTORICAL LEITERS. 245 

Indian manufactures have uniformly been in great 
demand in all countries where navigation or com- 
merce have been objects of pursuit. 

In the year 1497, under the reign of king Imma- 
nuel the Great, of Portugal, Vasco di Gama, after a 
navigation of thirteen months, arrived at ( alicut, on 
the coast of Malabar He scarcely took time to 
view the country ; and was followed, in a second 
voyage, by Alvarez Cabral, who laid the founda- 
tion of Portuguese glory. In a third expedition 
Albuquerque established the power of Portugal 
there The decay of her power, however, was a3 
rapid as its growth. The Dutch drove the conque- 
rors from almost all their newly acquired posses- 
sions ; and in our day they only preserve in that 
quarter of the globe Macao, upon the coast of China, 
a part of the island of Timor, Goa, and Diu, and 
some other small establishments on the Malabar 
coast. 

The first expedition of the Dutch to India, was 
under Cornelius Houtman, in the year 1595. The 
second voyage was undertaken by Van Neek, in 
1598 ; he met with considerable success, and return- 
ed laden with riches. On his return the India com- 
pany of Holland was formed, which sent out to 
those parts admiral Warwick, with a proper equip- 
ment ; and he is considered the founder of the 
Dutch power in Asia. They were very successful 
in forming establishments on the Islands of the In- 
dian seas. Batavia, in the island of Java, is the 
capital of all the possessions of the Hollanders in 
India. They are the only Europeans who have been 
permitted to trade at Japan. But their glory and 
their power in that quarter have been obscured by 
the English. 
v2 



246 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

The conflicts of the Portuguese and the Dutch 
in India, at the commencement of the seventeenth 
centurj, attracted the attention of Europe, and 
drew thither the English, in order to secure a part 
of the spoils. Their present dominion over the 
best part of Indostan attests the success of their 
arras. Thej have not, at this time, a European 
competitor, and draw annually from thence to 
Great Britain immense wealth. 

Of the various attempts of the English, individu- 
ally, to open a trade thither, none proved successful 
till queen Elizabeth, by a charter, dated December 
31, A, D. 1600, established the first incorporated 
company by the name of the London East India 
Company. The original shares were fifty pounds 
sterling each, and the capital was under four hund- 
red thousand pounds. The shareholders, after con- 
siderable changes, were subsequently designated by 
the name of " United Company of Merchants of 
England trading to the East Indies.^* By degrees 
this body has become the richest and most powerful 
corporation that ever existed, and has for a long 
time enjoyed a controlling influence in the British 
government. 

In the reign of Louis XIV. the French minister 
Colbert endeavoured to secure some of the profits 
of East Indian commerce to his countrymen ; but 
although they obtained a footing in Bengal, and on 
the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar, and main- 
tained severe conflicts with the British for superiori- 
ty, they have never been able to fix an advantageous 
establishment in the country. 

In 1618 the Danes made a settlement on the Co- 
romandel coast, called Tranquebar; and towards the 
close of the sixteenth century the Spaniards settled 



HISTORICAL LETTERS, 247 

themselves at the Philippine Islands, the only pos- 
sessions which they have in Asia. 

India, on this side of the Gan2;es, has been called 
the Mogul empire, from the name of the Tartars 
who subjugated it; and it is also denominated Indos- 
tan, from the Hindoos, or Gentoos, who inhabit it. 
The Mogul empire was shattered by Thomas-Kouli- 
Kahn, who, in re-establishing the dethroned prince, 
left him nothing more than a shadow of power. Tlie 
late Great Mogul, possessed little more than the 
city of Delhi and the adjacent territories. All the 
peninsula of India, which, under the administration 
of Rajahs, Subads,and Nabobs, was formerly depen- 
dent on the Mogul empire, has, by degrees, been 
liberating itself from that domination ever since the 
invasion of Thomas-Kouli Kahn, and at this time is 
divided into several states, of which the most pow- 
erful are the possessions of the English Elastlndia 
Company, those of the Nizam, and those of the 
Mahrattas. Delhi is the capital of the Mogul em- 
pire: Agra is the greatest city of India. I'he hi- 
ther coast of the Indian peninsula is called Malabar; 
the farther coast bears the name of Coromandel. 

India, beyond the Ganges, is little known to the 
moderns, and was less known to the ancients. It 
contains many states or kingdoms, of which the 
most spoken of are Ava, Pegu and Aracan, compo- 
sing the Birman empire ; together with Siam, Ma- 
lacca, Tonquin, Cochin-China, &c. 

China is reputed to be the best cultivated and 
most populous country of the earth, and is singular 
for its laws, its morals, usages and manners. We 
are very imperfectly acquainted with it, owing to 
the policy of the government, which is extremely 
jealous of foreign visitors. The most authentic de- 
tails respecting the Chinese and their institutions, 



248 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

are to be found in the account given of the English 
ambassador, liOrd Macartney's, mission to the So- 
vereign of that Empire, which took place in 179S. 
China dates her origin four thousand years ago. She 
furnishes an uninterrupted history from about two 
hundred 3'^ears before Jesus Christ ; and lays a 
doubtful claim to the invention of gun powder, 
printing and the mariner's compass, previously to 
their discovery in Europe. A fortified wall, 1500 
miles in extent, forms a defence for her nortliern 
frontier, and it is said to have been made about 2000 
years ago. .The Chinese have a canal of more than 
180 leagues in length, traversing a part of the em- 
pire from south to north. According to the docu- 
ments procured by Lord Macartne}', the territory 
of China comprehends 1,297,999 square miles; 
333,000,000 of inhabitants ; has 4,400 walled towns; 
and an armed force of 1,000,000 of infantry and 
800,000 cavalry. Pekin is the capital, and is said 
to contain 3,000,000 of inhabitants. Canton, the 
only port at which Europeans are permitted to trade, 
has one million two hundred thousand inhabitants. 
1 he people in general are Pagans ; and Confucius is 
iiieir most celebrated philosopher. Tea is the grand 
C(nnmodity of exportation from China, and has be- 
come an article of use and merchandise all over the 
globe. The porcelain of that part of the world was 
not known to the ancients. The Portuguese began 
to import it not long after their first voyage to China, 
A. D. 1517; but it was a considerable time before 
the use of it became extensive. 

The Tartaries are three in number. Russian 
Tartary, which extends from the Volga to Kams- 
chatka.: It is separated from the north west coast 
of America by Behring's Streights, which are not 
very wide, and are perpetually obstructed by ice. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 249 

Tobolsk is the capital. Chinese Tartary includes 
tlie Mantchou Tartars, and the black and yellow 
Moa;uls. Titsicar is the capital. Independent Tar- 
tary is situated between the other two, and is envi- 
roned by China, India and Persia ; the inhabitants 
are chiefly the Calmuc and the Usbec 'J'artars. The 
principal cities are Saraarcand, Balk, Bokara, Otrar 
and Toncat. 

In Asia, several conquerors liave marked a wider 
circuit than Alexander the Great. Towards the 
close of the 12th century, Gengis-Kan succeeded 
liis father in the government of several Mogul Tar- 
tar hordes, to the north of China. By his talents 
and his courage, he made himself master of e\erj 
thing around hitn ; subdued the nations from the 
Volga to the w-all of China, and from the peninsula 
ofCoreato the Euphrates. At his death, his em- 
pire was divided between his four sons, each of 
v^hom found himself one of the most powerful mo- 
narchs of the earth. The descendants of Gengis 
were eclipsed of their power b;y the victories of Ta- 
merlane. 

Timur, or Tamerlane, born without inheritance, 
created for himself an empire more extensive than 
that of the Macedonian hero. His conquests includ- 
ed Indostan, Persia, part of Asia, Turkey in Asia, 
Independent and part of Chinese Tartary. He de- 
leated tiie Turkish Emperor Bajazet, on the plains 
of Angora, in Phrygia, in 1402, where a ^rant battle 
vvas fought between the two rivals, in which, it is 
said, 2,000,000 of men were engaged. The posteri- 
ty of Timur, like that of Gengiy, have sunk beneath 
the superior fortune and abilities of succeeding 
princes, who sprung up in Asia Minor, in Persia, 
India, and other parts. Aurengzebe, flie Mogul 
Emperor, who died in 1707, at the age of more 



256 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 



than one hundred, was one of his descendants. His 
race, however, h;is possessed nothins; but a nomi- 
nal authority ever since 1739, when Thomas-K.ouii- 
Kahn overturned its authority in India. This Tho- 
inas-Konli'Kahn reigned over Persia up.der the 
name of Shah-Nadir^ 0. 



LETTEM XXVI. 

JFRIC^^t including Egypt, the Coast of Barhari/y 

the Western, Southern, and Eastern Coasts, 

and the Interior, 

With the exception of Egypt and the coast of 
Barbary, Africa was, perhaps, less known to the an- 
cients than to the moderns. The stupid barbarity 
of its inhabitants, the ferocity of its beasts, and the 
venom of its reptiles, seem to mark it, in some mea- 
sure, as the refuse of creation. 

Egypt, which, in effect, was the cradle of human 
knowledge, and is not included in the preceding re- 
marks, has been already spoken of. The Egyptians 
fdled the earth with the fame of their wisdom, of 
their laws, their government, and their works, 
whilst the Carthaginians, situated more to the west, 
were celebrated for their riches, their conflicts and 
their fall. Barbary, on the coast of which Carthage 
was situated, was considered, both under the Car- 
thaginian and Roman dominion, as the garden of the 
world. The fortune of Carthage sunk beneath that 
of Rome, which, in turn, yielded to the valor of bar- 
barians. In the fifth century the Vandals, under 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 251 

Oenseric, drove cut the Romans, and founded his 
throne upon the ruins of ancient Carthage From 
the presence of these destructive hordes this fine 
portion of the earth was relieved bj the martial 
genius and active courage of the renowned and un- 
happy Belisarius, at the head of the armies of the 
eastern division of the Roman empire. This tri- 
umph of civilization, however, was but temporary. 
The Saracens entered the country and reduced it to 
a state of rudeness. These Masters of Barbary di- 
vided, and formed distinct establishments. Fez, 
IMorocco, Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli, were founded 
under different sovereigns. After a reign of some 
centuries, distinguished for nothing but licentious- 
ness and depredation, the Saracens were subjugated 
by the Turks, who have preserved and promoted 
the ignorance and barbarism wliich they found in 
the country. The conquests of the Turks in Africa 
were divided among the lieutenants of the Grand 
Seignior, upon whom the states of Barbary are at 
present only nominally dependent. Thus arose the 
present political constitution of the Barbary powers, 
where the Dey is the tyrant, the Turkish soldiers 
the senate, and the inhabitants are slaves- Agri- 
culture is neglected, piracy is encouraged ; and the 
ruling chieftains acknowledge the Grand Seignior 
as their superior, without paying any regard to his 
commands. 

EoTtPT, which at present strongly attracts the at- 
tention of European potentates, is divided into Up- 
per, Middle, and Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt con- 
tains Girge, Siut, Cosseir, and Assuan. Middle 
Egypt contains Cairo, Boulac, Fioum, and Suez ; 
And Lower Egypt comprehends Alexandria, Da- 
mietta, Rosetta, and Aboukir. The Grand Seignior 
deputes a Vice Roy to govero Egypt; but the real 



252 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

sovereigns were, for a long time, twenty-four Beys, 
elected by a standing military force of 10,000 Ma- 
melukes. The power of the Beys, however, has been 
diminished, if not extinguished, by the cruel policy 
of the Ottomans. 

B AKBAriY includes the empire of Morocco, the re- 
gencies of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, the country. of 
Barca and Tafilet, Sugelmessa, Billedulgerid, &c. 
Morocco is an imperial despotism, founded by the 
Arabs. The regencies are aristocracies, whose 
chiefs are called Deys or Beys, and are elected by 
the Turkish soldiers. The French and Spaniards, 
in modern times, have occupied a few posts on the 
coasts of Barbary. 

The western coast of Africa, or Guinea, embraces 
an immense extent of country, from Cape Blanc to 
Cape Negro. It is that part of Africa which is most 
frequented b}"" Europeans., and is the principal thea- 
tre of their commerce. From thence are exported 
gums, ivory, wax, gold dust, andes|JLecially slaves. 
Of the latter, it is computed that, before the com- 
mencement of the French revolution, there were ex- 
ported from Guriiea more than one hundred thou- 
sand annually. The inhabitants receive, in exchange 
for slaves, powder, lire- arms, brandy, gliss-ware, 
and silk and cotton stuffs. Guinea is peopled by 
various hordes, who are in a state of perpetual war- 
fare with each other, and thereby furnish a supply 
for the slave market. The United States of Ame- 
rica, in framing their constitution, in 1787, led the 
"way to the abolition of this scandalous traffic. By 
that instrument, Congress were empowered, in the 
year 1808, to prohibit the importation of slaves ; and 
accordingly, on the second day of March, 1807, that 
body passed a law, which was approved by the then 
President Thomas Jefferson, declaring it illegal 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. '25S 

from and after the first day of January, 1808, to im- 
port or bring into the United States or the territories 
thereof, from any foreign kingdom, plaCe or country, 
any negro, mulatto, or person of color, with intent to 
hold, 'sell, or dispose of, such negro, mulatto, or per- 
son of color, as a slave, or to be held to service or 
labor. Great Britain, finding that the United States 
were determined to carry into rigid execution their 
constitutional provision relative to the slave-trade, 
yielded to the spirit of humanity, and interdicted to 
her subjects a commerce which, however lucrative, 
only served to disgrace them. Guinea is subdivided 
into several districts, denominated Senegal, Gam- 
bia, Sierra Leona, the Grain Coast, Ivory Coast, 
the Slave Coast, the Gold Coast, the kingdoms ot 
Benin, of Loango, of Congo, of Angola, Benguela, 
Bamba, &c. The Portuguese formerly possessed 
all the Southern ports, and were the first who dealt 
in slaves ; and the Dutch and Danes had establish- 
ments; but the English, from the superiority of 
their navy, hold a preponderating control over all 
the settlements in that part of Africa. 

The Southern point of the African continent, or 
the Cape of Good Hope, comprehending an exten- 
sive district of country, was formerly subject to the 
Dutch East-India Company, from whom it was cap- 
tuied by the British in 1795. This is the country 
of the Cafties and the Hottentots, of whom inter- 
esting accounts have been furnished by Barrow, 
Vaillant, and others. The colony of the Cape of 
Good Hope was founded by the Dutch in 1650, un- 
der the direction of a surgeon named Vanriebeck, 
and served as a convenient place for refitting ships 
bound to India. It is inhabited by about 15,000 
Europeans and 50,000 slaves ; and produces a very 



%54 KlStOKlCAL LETTEllS. 

delicious wine, known by the name of the Cape or 
Constantia wine. 

Of the Eastern Coast of Africa, very little is 
known. The Portuguese are the only Europeans 
who have established themselves there, which they 
did in virtue of their discovery of the passage to 
India by the Cape of Good-Hope. Having no rival 
in that quarter, they have exercised authority in a 
^^ery arbitrary manner. This tract of country in- 
cludes the districts of Monomotapa, Sofala, which 
is thought to be the Ophir of Solomon ; Mozam- 
bique, Zanguebaf,Melinda, Brava, Magadoxo, Abys- 
sinia, Nubia, &c. The forms of government among 
the natives on the Eastern Coast, are, in general, 
monarchical or despotic ; but they are almost all 
tributary or dependent on the Portuguese. 

The Interior of Africa has been either very lit- 
tle visited by travellers, or is altogether unknown. 
All that we know with certainty is, that it is over- 
spread, in various parts, with arid deserts, frightful 
beasts, and uncivilized men. The Interior com- 
prehends Sahara, or the Great Desert, v/hich is sub- 
divided into the districts of Zanhaga, Zuenziga, 
Targa, Lemta, and Berdoa ; the country of Tombut, 
Fezzan, Cashna, Bornou, Darfour, the greater 
part of Caflraria, Monomugi, &c. 

In 1788, there was formed in London a society 
for encouraging discoveries in the Interior of Africa. 
This Society dispatched several missionaries into 
that country ; Of these, the first soon died ; the se- 
cond furnished very little information that was au- 
thentic ; but the third, Mungo Park, has published 
interesting recitals of his discoveries ; which he pro- 
secuted in the years 1795, 1796, and 1797. Park 
set out from the mouth of the river Gambia, traver- 
sed the space between the Gambia and the Senega!;, 



HISTORICAL LET'ir.US. 



155 



and proccGtlecl as far as a place ealleci 8illa, seated 
on the river Niger, whence he returned, by a devious 
route, to the pLice from which he started. In a sub- 
sequent expedition. Park IS supposed to have perish- 
ed ; as no authentic accounts have ever been 
received from him. 

In 1781, Vaillant undertook to explore a portion 
of the African continent. He set out from the Cape 
of Good -Hope, and penetrated a considerable dis- 
tance into the countries of the Hottentots and 
Caffres. He has furnished some very curious par- 
ticulars of the customs and manners of these people. 

Browne, another traveller, departed from Cairo, 
in Egypt, ascended the Nile to Siout, and diverging 
to the right of that river, passed along the skirts of 
Nubia, and reached as far as a place called Gobbeh. 

Bruce is another traveller into Africa, of great 
celebrity. He traversed Nubia to Sennar, and pro- 
ceeded, in search of the sources of the Nile, through 
Abyssinia, where he alleges thnt he found them. 

In 1798, Hornmann prosecuted travels into Afri- 
ca, crossing Egypt towards Barca, and proceeded as 
far as Mourzook, the capital of Fezzan. 

These have been succeeded by other travellers, 
with but little success in satisfactory discoveries. 

There are many Islands that appertain to the 
continent of Africa, in the Western Ocean are 
Madeira, the Canaries, Cape de Verds, Goree, As- 
cension, St. Helena, &c. In tlie Eastern Ocean are 
Madagascar, the Isles of France and Bourbon, of 
Comora, and some others. 

Notwithstanding the aridity of the African cli- 
mate, the discoveries which have been made indi- 
cate that many parts of the Interior are fruitful, and 
might, with industry and knowledge, contribute to 
the comfort and happiness of mankind ; The Interi- 



'256 



HISTORICAL LEITERS. 



or of that continent, the coasts and islands of which 
BOW serve chiefly for resting places and ports of re- 
freshment, may, it is hoped, in after-times, when 
more fully explored, become a scene of the fairest 
virtues and the noblest actions of the human race. 

C. 



LETTER XXVII. 

AMERICA — including the British Possessions 
in J\/*orth America; the United States ; and 
the Spanish and Poriuguese Possessions in 
JS^orth and South America. 

Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, arguing, fropi 
the nature of a globe, which the world was held to 
be, that by keeping a course continually west he 
should eventually arrive at the Eastern Coasts of 
Asia, or discover some new land in his passage, ap- 
plied, successively, to the o;ovemments of Genoa, of 
France, of England, and of Portugal, lor the means 
of verifying this conjecture : But he was treated by 
all of them as a man deluded by a chimera. Colum- 
bus, however, had reasoned with too much calmness 
and accuracy upon the subject to be induced easily 
to abandon his idea, and after eight years of solici- 
tation at the court of Isabella, queen of Castile, he 
succeeded in procuring a small equipment where- 
with to execute his enterprize. He departed in 
1492, with a few vessels of no great burthen, which 
had been granted to his importunity rather than 
confided to his wisdom. After being at sea for thirty- 
three days, during which his crew had eviiiced the 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 95T 

most mutinous disposition, he discovered one of the 
Bahama Islands, which, in reference to his pei'sonal 
situation, he called Saint Salvador ; for he would 
have had to return to Spain, or have perislied by 
the hands of his mariners, if he had not, about that 
time, approached the land. From Saint Salvador 
he proceeded to Hayti, which he found full of peo- 
ple, and abounding in gold and all sorts of useful 
productions. To Hayti he gave the name of Hispa- 
niola, vvliich is the same island that is now generally 
denominated St. Domingo. He then returned to 
Spain, where he was received with the most extra* 
vagant demonstrations of joy. Such is the history 
of the discovery of America, the nominal honor of 
which has, in some degree, been filched from Co- 
lumbus by a native of Florence, whose name was 
Americus Vespucius, and who, coasting some years 
afterwards along the continent, published the first 
charts of the country. Columbus made several 
voyages to America, in the course of which he took 
possession of other Islands in the name of his sove- 
reign. He died in Spain in loOC, having experien- 
ced much of royal ingratitude, and having been per- 
secuted by those who envied his reputation. 

A great portion of the North Ameiican Continent 
is almost unknown: And this portion is, perhaps, 
greater in extent than all Europe. It is inhabited 
by tribes of Indians, who, generally speaking, are 
perfectly savage. It was for a long time a prevail- 
ing opinion, that there existed a passage by sea 
from the eastern to the western coast of this conti- 
nent ; but the travels and voyages of several adven- 
turers have nearly, if not totally, destroyed it. None 
have more assisted in elucidating this contested 
point than Vancouver, who, by his researches and 
observatioHS'for a period ot five years, has succee^eti 
w2 



Q5S HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

in makins; the north-west coast of America one of 
the best known points of our globe. Nootka Sound, 
which lies in that direction, was visited by captain 
Cook in 1777. The English established themselves 
there in 1785, in order to promote a trade in furs to 
China: The Spaniards becoming jealous of this es- 
tablishment, sent thither a force which dispossessed 
the English, and this pr'oduced an altercation be- 
tween the two powers that had nearly ended in a 
war, but was amicably adjusted in the year 1790. 

The British Possessions in North-America are 
divided into several provinces. New Britain em- 
braces all the tract north of Canada, comprehending 
the Esquimaux country, which includes Labrador, 
and New South Wales. Canada, of which Quebec 
is the chief town. Nova Scotia, having for its capi- 
tal Halifax; and New-Brunswick, the capital of 
which is St. John's. New Britain is an immense 
country, which environs Hudson's Bay : the, boun- 
daries of it are very inaccurately defined j and the 
inhabitants, who are the Eskimaux Indians, are alto- 
gether uncivilized Canada and Nova-Scotia are, 
comparatively speaking, in a very flourishing condi- 
tion: Ever since the independence of the United 
States the British have paid great attention to them, 
particularly to their commerce, which has given an 
impulse to industry and tended greatly to increase 
their population. Canada was taken possession of 
by the French in 1525; Quebec was built in 1608; 
but in 1759 the whole country was conquered by 
the English, and has been in their possession ever 
since. Nova Scotia was settled by Sir Wm. Alex- 
ander in 1622, but ten years afterwards it was sold 
to the French. It was taken again in 1654, and 
ceded back in 1662; recovered by Sir William 
Phipps in 1690, and given again to the French in 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 259 

1697; but the English conquered it once more in 
1710, and it was confirmed to them at the peace of 
Utrecht in 1713. New-Brunswick was formerly a 
part of Nova'Scotia, and was erected into a separate 
province in 1784. For our knowledge of these nor- 
thern countries we are greatly indebted to the efforts 
of those vA\o endeavored to find a north-western 
passage to Cliina. Frobisher vainly attempted it in 
1576: he discovered Labrador. Davis made the 
experiment in 1585, and has given his name to the 
straits that lead into Baffin's Bay. Henry Hudson 
made sundry voyages in tliat direction in 1607, in 
1608, and in 1610: he discovered the Bay which 
bears his name and perished in 1611, a victim to his 
zeal and the rage of a majority of his crew, who for- 
ced him and his son and some otliers into a shallop 
which was never after heard of. The mutineers ar- 
rived at Plymouth in September 1611. Another 
effort was made by Ellis in 1746, which, as to its 
ultimate object, was also fruitless. 

An exclusive trade to a part of America was 
granted in 1670, by Chailes It. to the Governor and 
Compamj of Adventurers of England trading to 
Hudsoti*s Buy : tliey wei'e to have the sole trade 
and commerce of and to all the seas, ba3"s, straits, 
creeks, lakes, rivers and sounds, in whatsoever lati- 
tude, that lie within the entrance of the strait com- 
monly called Hudson's straits ; together with all the 
lands, countries and territories, upon the coasts of 
such seas, bays and straits, which were then possess- 
ed by any Englisli subject or the subjects of any 
other Christian state ; togetlier with the fishing of 
all sorts of fish, of whales, sturgeon, and all other 
royal fish, together with the royalty of the sea. But 
this extensive charter has not received any parlia- 
mentary confirmation or sanction. They carry on 



260 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

a considerable trade in furs and peltries. By their 
communication with the Indians, the Englisli find a 
considerable vent for their coarse manufactures. 
Authority is exercised in these provinces by Govern- 
ors General, sub-governors, and local assemblies, 
acting under the sanction of the crown and parlia- 
ment. 

The United States were formerly British colo- 
nies They are situated in the center of the nor- 
thern part of the continent of America, are in pos- 
session of the knowledge and the arts of the oldest 
nations of Europe, are rapidly augmenting in popu- 
lation and wealth, will at some future period un- 
doubtedly give the law to the western hemisphere, 
and check the expansion of European domination. 
The American Union has been formed out of differ- 
ent states, founded at different epochs, by various 
European emigrants. 

Sebastian Cabot, in the service of Henry VII. of 
England, first discovered the continent of North 
America in 1497. About the same time numerous 
expeditions were fitted out for making discoveries 
in the New World, and curiosity being stimulated 
by avarice, settlements began to be formed in the 
succeeding century from the gulf of Mexico to the 
river St. Lawrence, It would seem, however, that 
none of a permanent nature were effected till 1608, 
when the French commenced an establishment at 
Quebec. In the year 1609, lord De la War esta- 
blished the colony of Virginia : In 1610 Newfound- 
land was settled by Governor John Guy. New Jer- 
sey was colonized by the Dutch in 161 6, and by the 
English in 1664. About 1616 the Dutch settled 
New-York. In 1620 Plymouth was settled by part 
of Mr. Robinson's congregation of Puritans ^ and in 
1628 captain John Endicott and company made a 



"HISTORICAL LETTERS. 261 

colonial establishment at Massachusetts Bay. In 
1627 Pennsylvania was planted by the Swedes and 
Fins; and in 1682 by William Penn. The Swedes 
and Fins also settled in Delaware in 1627. New 
Hampshire was founded in 1623 by the English. 
Maryland was settled by Lord Baltimore in 1633. 
The colony of Connecticut was commenced by Mr. 
Fen wick, at Saybrook, in 16S5. Mr. Roger Willi- 
ams retired from Massachusetts with his persecuted 
brethren in 1637, and founded Rhode Island. In 
]|^669 South Carolina was settled by Governor Sayle; 
and North-Carolina by the English in 1728. Gene- 
ral Oglethorpe founded Georgia in 17S2 ; and Ken- 
tucky was explored and settled by Col. Daniel Boon 
in 1773. Emigrants from Connecticut, and other 
parts of New England, were established in Vermont 
from 1764 to 1777. Emigrants from all parts of the 
Union settled Tennessee about the year 1783; and 
in 1787 the settlement of the Territory North West 
of the river Ohio was promoted by the Ohio and 
other companies. Such is the current of those esta- 
blishments, out of which have grown the present 
United States. Louisiana and a part of West-Flo- 
rida were purchased from the French in 1803. 

Before the association was formed and whilst the 
States were colonies, the American provinces were 
invariably involved in the wars which grew out of 
the passions of the governments of Europe. Those 
establishments appertaining to Great Britain, were 
sparing neither in money nor men, to insure the tri- 
umph of the British arms, and to sustain the honor 
of the British name, and at the close of the war be- 
tween France and Great Britain in 1763, which was 
distinguished by victories and conquests in both he- 
mispheres, they flourished in population, commerce 
and wealth. But the splendor of her successes 



262 HISTORICAL LETTERS, 

abroad impoverished the subjects of Great Britain 
at home ; and whilst her flag waved unrivalled over 
every sea, she was oppressed with a load of debt 
and increasing expenses, that called incessantly for 
new taxes and impositions on her people. The in- 
genuity of her jinancial statesmen was perplexed in 
a labyrinth of difficulty, from which they attempted 
to escape by an expedient that finally lost to Great 
Britain the most considerable part of her American 
possessions In the year 1764 a bill was passed in 
parliament, by which heavy duties were laid on 
goods imported by the colonists from such West- 
Jndia Islands as did not belong to the British, and 
the duties were to be paid into the exchequer in 
specie : And immediately after another bill was 
framed to restrain the currency of paper money in 
the colonies. The Americans complained and re- 
monstrated, without avail ; and at length resorted 
to an agreement to import no more British manufac- 
tures, but by all means in their power to encourage 
those of domestic fabric. The English ministry 
would not relax, but proceeded to impose stamp du- 
ties throughout the continent. The stamp act met 
with much opposition in its passage through parlia- 
ment ; but it eventually passed. When it arrived 
at Boston it was received with universal indigna- 
tion. The stamps, wherever they could be found, 
were destroyed ; and those who were appointed to 
receive the duties were terrified into a resignation 
of their offices. It was now broadly asserted that 
Great Britain had no right whatever to tax the co- 
lonies without their consent. This doctrine was 
maintained on the ground that British subjects 
could not be lawfully taxed without being represent- 
ed in the legislature. Virginia took the lead, and 
all the rest of the provinces followed the example, 



HISTORICAL LETTKRS. 265 

in the declaration tliat Great Britain had no right to 
tax them, and that every attempt to vest others with 
this power besides the king, or the governor ot the 
province, and his general assembly, was unconstitu- 
tional and unjust. Non-importation agreements 
were every where entered into, and it was even re- 
solved to prevent the sale of an}' more British o;oods. 
The ladies agreed to renounce the use of every 
ornament manufactured in Britain. This general 
confederacy determined the ministry to repeal some 
of the most obnoxious of these statutes. The stamp 
act was revoked ; but the joy which the revocation 
gave rise to was damped by the ungracious and con- 
comitant declaration in a bdl, published for the pur- 
pose, of the authority of tlie mother country over 
her colonies, and her power to bind them by laws 
and statutes in all cases whatever. A spirit of jea- 
lousy still prevailed, and a strong party was formed 
watchful of the rights of the American people. Soon 
after an act was passed, imposing a duty upon tea, 
papers, painters' colors, and glass, imported into 
America. This roused the resentment of persons 
of all classes, and a more general combination than 
ever was formed to resist the pretensions of parlia- 
ment. The inhabitants of the Massachusetts colony 
behaved in the most intrepid manner; open contro- 
versies took place between the assembly and the go; 
vernor, and the latter soon lost all influence in the 
province. It would be incompatible witli the limits 
of this work to recite all the incidents which mark- 
ed the early stages of this contest between the pa- 
rent country and the colonies. The Bostonians at 
length made forcible opposition to the duty on tea, 
by not suffering the cargoes of several ships laden 
Avith it to be landed, and, in the dress of Mohawk 
Indians, going on board and throwing 342 chests of 



264 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

tea into the sea. This happened in November 1775, 
and was the immediate prelude to the revolutionary 
struggle. The British ministry were highly exas- 
perated and passed a number of acts exceedingly 
obnoxious to the provincials. Among these was 
the Boston Port Bill, shutting up the port of Boston 
and cutting off its trade. Gen. Gage now arrived 
as Governor, and removed the assembly to Salem. 
Here that body passed a resolution declaring the ne- 
cessity of a general congress, composed of delegates 
from all the provinces, in order to take the affairs of 
the colonies at large into consideration, and five 
gentlemen were forthwith chosen to represent Mas- 
sachusetts. A summary of grievances was then 
drawn up and circulated through the country. Vir- 
ginia boldly stood forth as the champi(m of freedom 
and united in promoting a general congress. Penn- 
sylvania and New York gradually came into the 
measure. At Boston a solemn league and covenant 
was entered into, whereby the signers bound them- 
selves to relinquish the use of British goods, to as- 
sociate with none who did use them, or who refused 
to subscribe the covenant. Similar agreements 
were simultaneously entered into throughout Ame- 
rica. Gen. Gage, in a proclamation, denounced this 
combination as illegal and traitorous, and threaten- 
ed such as signed or countenanced it with the pains 
of the law. His proclamation, however, had little 
effect. Delegates were chosen for each province,in 
number from two to seven for each colony, though 
no colony had more than one vote. The congress 
met at Philadelphia, as the most central place, in 
autumn 1774; and the patriotic proceedings of the 
people in different quarters were approved. Thej 
addressed a letter to Gen. Gage, stated their griev- 
ances, in treated him to desist from military open- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 265 

tions and published a dpclaratiori of their rights as 
Enj^lishmen The British forces at Boston, never- 
theless, continued to increase; find Gen. Gage be- 
gan to fortify tlie neck of land which joins the town 
of Boston to the continent. This gave great um- 
brage to the citizens, who vel^emently remonstrated 
against it. Gage paid no attention to their remon- 
strances, but proceeded to seize the provincial pow- 
der, ammunition and military stores, at Cambridge 
and CharlestoM^n. Tlie Americans were by this 
time universally inflamed with resentment, began 
to study the art of war, established con.panies of 
minute-men, to be ready for service at a moment's 
warning, and took such other steps as were consi- 
dered necessary to insure success to their cause. 
Things were in this state, when, on the 19th of 
April 1775, Gen. Gage sent a party of his troops to 
destroy, the military stores collected at Concord, 
about twenty miles from Boston. This party had 
marched before day-break, and about five in the 
morning had reached Lexington, fifteen miles from 
Boston, where some militia were exercising. An 
ofiicer called out to the latter to disperse, and it be- 
ing alleged tliat at the moment some shots were 
fired from an adjacent house, the British military 
made a discharge, which killed and wounded seve- 
ral of the militia. The detachment then proceeded 
to Concord, destroyed the stores, had a scufile with 
the Americans, and several persons fell on both 
sides. The king's troops retreated through a sharp 
fire kept up from Concord to Lexington, where their 
ammunition failed, and they would have been en- 
tirely cut oft if lord Percy had not come to their aid 
with two field pieces. The spirits of the Americans 
were much elevated by this conflict. They assem- 
bled a lar^e army in the neighborhood of Boston> 

A, 



266 HISTORICAL Letters. 

and held the British in check. Towards tlie end of 
May, however, the latter received considerable rein- 
forcements under Generals Howe, Burgoyne, and 
Clinton. Some skirmishing had taken place, in 
which the Americans had the advantage : But on 
the night of the 16th of June they took possession 
of a high ground, that overlooks the town of Boston, 
called Bunker-s or Breed's Hill, and before day- 
light almost completed a redoubt and a strong en- 
trenchment. Before mid-day the work was com- 
pleted, notwithstanding a heavy cannonade from the 
British. These how marched to the attack of the 
Hill under Generals Howe and Pigot, supported by 
General Clinton. The Americans received them 
with a fire that occasioned a prodigious slaughter. 
By burning Charlestown, where the Americans had 
taken post, the British succeeded in carrying the 
Hill, having lost about one thousand men, among 
whom were nineteen officers killed and seventy 
wounded. The American loss was about five hun- 
dred, including Gen. Warren, who was much 
lamented. This battle, in whicb the king's troops 
claimed the victory, taught them to respect their 
adversaries, and made them more cautious in their 
movements. The war had now seriously commenc- 
ed. The exportation of provisions was every where 
prohibited to such colonies of America as continued 
to adhere to the British interest. Congress resolv- 
ed to establish an army, and to issue a large paper 
currency to support it. Private parties were organ- 
ized in favor of the public cause : Colonels Kaston 
and Ethan Allen, with about 250 men, surprised 
Crown Point and Ticonderoga on the side of Cana- 
da. Articles of confederation and perpetual Union 
were drawn up and proposed to the States. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 267 

On the 6th of July, 1775, Congress published a 
very eloquent declaration, reciting their grievances, 
asserting their rights, proclaiming that "honor, jus- 
tice and humanity, forbade them tahr.ely to surren- 
der that freedom which they received from their 
gallant ancestors, and which their innocent posteri- 
ty had a right to receive from ihem." This Con- 
gress rejected a conciliatory proposal made by 
Lord North and appointed George Washington to 
command their armies in chief. His commission 
was made out in the name of the states, signed by 
John Hancock, President of Congress, and by 
Charles Thompson, as Secretary. Horatie Gates 
was chosen adjutant-general, and Charles Lee a 
major general: Both these were English officers of 
considerable reputation — Artemas Ward, Philip 
Schuyler, and Israel Putnam, were also nominated 
major-generals. Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montgo- 
mery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spen- 
cer, John Thomas, John Sullivan and Nathaniel 
Green, were chosen brigadier-generals. It was 
then determined to invade Canada and reduce Que- 
bec, daring the winter. For this purpose 3000 men 
were put under the command of Generals Montgo- 
mery and Schuyler, with directions to proceed by 
lake Champlain. In the course of the expedition 
General Schuyler was taken sick, and Montgomery 
was left to command alone. He succeeded in getting 
possession of St. John's, a strong fort on the river So- 
rel, a branch of the St. Lawrence, notwithstanding 
he was vigorously opposed by General Carleton, a 
man of capacity for war. Montreal next fell into 
the hands of General Montgomer3% vvhich opened 
the way to Quebec. Meanwhile Colonel Arnold, 
penetrating with a body of troops through frightful 
morasses and solitAides, found a nearer wav to that 



568 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

place* A junction being formed before the town by 
these two officers, and it beinji; found impossible to 
take the place by siege. General Montgomery deter- 
mined to attempt a surprise on the last day of De- 
cember 1775. Two real and two fei":ned attacks 
were made, in order to distract the garrison. The 
Americans advanced by break of day in the midst 
of a heavy fall of snow ; but the sio;naI for the attack 
being <j;iven too soon the surprize did not take effect. 
General Montojomery and his princijoal officers 
were slain by t!ie fire of the enemy. Colonel Ar- 
nold bravely forced one of the barriers, and being 
carried olV wounded, his officers forced a second 
barrier ; but the attack under Montgomery having 
failed, the garrison rallied their v/hole force against 
Arnold's party, and overpowered it. That officer, 
with about 800 men, only retired to the distance of 
a few miles from Quebec, and continued still to an- 
noy it. Congress created Colonel Arnold a Briga- 
dier General. The flame of war now began to 
spread in every direction, l^ord Dunmore, the Go- 
vernor of Virginia, was driven from that colony, 
after havirjg attempted first to intmiidate the inha- 
bitants into submission, next to reconcile them to 
lord North's project, then to raise an insurrection 
among the slaves, and to excite the Ohio Indians, 
through the agency of one Connelly, to unite with 
the British in subduing the people. By his lord- 
ship's contrivance the town of Norfolk was reduced 
to ashes. The governors of North and South Caro- 
lina were likewise expelled. Boston was still oc- 
cupied by the forces of Great Britain, and the inha- 
bitants were prohibited from leaving it under pain 
of military execution. But in March, 1776, Gene- 
ral Washington opened batteries on the town, and 
the British were compelled to leave it, carrying 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 269 

along with them 2000 of the Bostonians attached to 
the British cause, who proceeded to Halifax, and 
whose estates were confiscated. At length, on the 
4th day of Jul}^ 1776, in a most impressive and ra- 
tional declaration, the Americans proclaimed them- 
selves free, sovereign and independent The decla- 
ration was received with enthusiasm, and supported 
with wisdom and energy. 

Tlie year 1776 was not very fortunate to the 
American arms : Arnold was obliged to abandon 
Quebec, and the hope of doing any thing in Canada 
at that time was relinquished : The Americans were 
followed in their retreat by General Burgoyne. In 
North Carolina, however, the British and their parti- 
zans were defeated by General Moore. In South 
Carolina they were bravely repulsed after a bloody 
conflict, in an attack from the Sea by a squadron 
under the command of Sir Peter Parker, aided by 
some troops conducted by l^ord Cornwallis, and 
Generals Clinton and Vaughan. This year the 
Americans fitted out a few vessels of war under the 
orders of commodore Hopkins, who proceeded to 
the Bahama Islands, where he secured some ord- 
nance and military stores The British next ad- 
vanced upon New-York with a large land and naval 
force, under lord and general Howe. The former 
having been appointed a commissioner to receive 
the submission of the colonists, made overtures to 
General Washington, which were rejected with 
much spirit. Every thing was now committed to 
the decision of the sword. In the month of August 
the king's troops, including a body of Hessians, 
landed on I.ong-lsland, GerTeral Putnam with a 
large body of Americans then lying encamped and 
fortified on a peninsula on the opposite shore, with 
a range of hills between the armies, the principal 
x2 



2r0 HISTORieAL LETTERS. 

pass of which was near Flatbush. Owing to one of 
the important passes being left unguarded the Bri- 
tish attacked and beat the Americans, who lost on 
that day, the 27th of August, more than 1000 men. 
On the 29th of August, in the night, they abandoned 
their camp. Lord Howe, supposing Congress would 
be humbled, sent in General Sullivan, who had been 
made prisoner, to propose a conference with the 
members in their private capacity ; but that body 
maintained their dignity in the midst of misfortune. 
A committee was, nevertheless, appointed to confer 
with his Lordship, consisting of Dr. Franklin, Mr. 
Adams, and Mr. Rutledge. Lord Howe received 
them politely ; but they declaring they would only 
treat as independent states, the conference proved 
fruitless. The Americans now abandoned the city 
of New-York, of which the British took possession, 
and pursuing their advantages, pushed on and at- 
tacked the republicans with some success at the 
White Plains. General Howe afterwards took forts 
Washington and Lee, and laid open winter quar- 
ters for his army in the Jerseys. Sir Henry Clin- 
ton made himself master of Rhode Island, and 
blocked up the squadron of Commodore Hopkins in 
the Providence. General Rurgoyne pressed the Ame- 
ricans on the side of Canada, and compelled Arnold 
to a precipitate flight, after behaving witli great gal- 
lantry. Feeble minds now began to waver: Wash- 
ington's army was amazingly reduced in number : 
General Lee, coming with a reinforcement from the 
nerth, by negligence suffered himself to be made 
prisoner. Kvery thing looked gloomy. But Con- 
gress did not despair; they animated the recruiting 
service ; prolonged the term of enlistment ; combin- 
ed avarice with patriotism by offering large bounties ; 
borrowed fire millions of dollars at five per cent, on 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 271 

the faith of the United States ; and rous^d the pub- 
lic feeling- by a glowing address. At this period 
General Washington gave a decisive turn to public 
sentiment by the defeat and capture of nearly 1000 
Hessians at Trenton, together with their arms, am- 
munition, and artillery. This occurred on the 26th 
of December; and Col Ralle,the Hessian comman- 
der, was mortally wounded. The American army 
was now reinforced from every quarter ; General 
Washington maintained himself in the Jerseys ; at- 
tacked the British at Maidenhead ; and, on the 
whole although this campaign had been adverse to 
the cause of independence. Great Britain had very 
little positive advantage to boast. 

In the year 1777 the British began the campaign 
by sending out predatory detachments. They des- 
troyed the magazines at Peekskill, burnt the town 
of Danbury, and possessed themselves of Ridgefield. 
In this last aftau' they were harassed by the Ame- 
ricans under Arnold, Sullivan, and Wooster. — 
Wooster was killed, and Arnold was in great dan- 
ger. The Americans also destroyed the British 
Stores at Sagg-Harbor. About this time General 
Prescott was taken by the republicans in much the 
same manner that Lee had been. The British next 
resolved to approach Philadelphia by the Chesa- 
peake Bay, and landed at the head of Elk : General 
Washington met them at Brandywine creek, be- 
tween the head of Klk and Philadelphia, where a 
general engagement took place on the 1 1th of Sep- 
tember, in which the Americans were worsted, ha- 
ving lost about 1000 killed and wounded, besides 
400 prisoners. General Washington retired towards 
Lancaster, and the British General, after pursuing 
him some distance, took quiet possession of Phila- 
delphia on the 26th of September. The Americans 



^79. HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

subsequently attacked a division of the royal armj 
at Germantown, but were repulsed, with the loss 
of about ISOO in killed, wounded and prisoners. 
The British lost some excellent officers, with about 
500 men. In the north, General B^rgoyne, with a 
co-operating force under Colonel St. Leger, advan- 
ced with a chosen body of English and German 
troops, aided by the Indians, to the invasion of the 
States bordering on Canada. General St. Clair was 
compelled to retreat before him. General Schuyler 
endeavored to make a stand against him, but was 
forced to retire to Saratoga. Here the American 
ariny wa-i reinforced by volunteers and drafted mi- 
litia, and General Arnold was ordered to repair thi- 
ther with a train of artillery. Col. St. Leger's ex- 
pedition in aid of Burgoyne proved unfortunate ; and 
General Burgoyne himself began to be straitened 
for provisions, and was much obstructed by the 
badness of the roads. Detachments of the British 
were sent oft' to secure supplies at Bennington ; but 
they were encountered by General Starke, and 
either cut to pieces or dispersed. Having, at length, 
procured a small supply of provisions. General Bur- 
goyne encamped on the heights and plains of Sara- 
toga. Here he was vigorously attacked, hemmed 
in, and, being destitute of food, finally surrendered 
his army to General Gates, amounting to upwards 
of 5000 men. They were to have a free passage 
home, and not to serve against the Americans du- 
ring the war. The booty was considerable. This 
brilliant achievement, in which officers and men, 
especially General Arnold, displayed great hero- 
ism, notwithstanding some minor successes by the 
British, terminated tliis campaign gloriously for tlic 
republicans. General Washington's anny, however. 



HISTORICAL LETTERS, -^t 



suffered severely this year at Cherry Valley for 
want of supplies. 

The year 17f 8 was distinguished by a treaty of 
alliance between the United States and France. 
The articles were formally signed on the 6th of 
February. They guarantied, in general, mutual 
assistance, the independence of America, and the 
conquests made by each party. Congress had form- 
ed a regular plan of confederation, and had agents 
at the different courts of Europe to further their in- 
terests. The country .was again tempted to sub- 
mission under lord North's conciliatory bill, which 
met with reprobation and contempt. On the 18th 
of June the Britisli army evacuated Pliiladelphia. 
They were pursued and attacked by the Americans 
in the Jerseys, but effected their escape. On this 
occasion General Lee was suspended by General 
Washington in the field for disobedience of orders. 
Arriving at Sandy-Hook the roval troops were con- 
veyed on board their fleet. This year a French 
squadron arrived, under Count d'Estaing, to assist 
tlie Americans ; but it effected nothing, and an en- 
terprize concerted with the French admiral for the 
recovery of Rhode-Island proved abortive- The 
British engaged in several plundering expeditions 
along the eastern coasts, and were successful in 
sundry attacks upon detached parties of the Ame- 
ricans. 

In the beginning of the year 1779, Georgia was 
subdued; Carolina was attempted by General Pre- 
vost, aiul defended by Generals Lincoln and Moul- 
trie. Count d'Estaing arriving off Georgia with his 
squadron, an ineffectual attack was made on Savan- 
nah, where the American loss was very considera- 
ble ; the Count Pulaski was killed, and d'Estaing 
was wounded. Sir George Collier undertook an 



2r4 HISTORICAL LEITERS. 

expedition to Penobscot Bay, and did mucli damage; 
the British took Stoney-Point, and ravaged and 
burnt several towns in Connecticut. Stoney-Point, 
however, was retaken by General Wayne, who car- 
ried the place by assault, amidst showers of mus- 
ketry'' and grape-shot. In June of this year, Spain 
united herself to the American cause, which furnish- 
ed the British with another enemy. General Sulli- 
ran was despatched by Congress to take vengeance 
on the Indians for their depredations, which he did 
in a most exemplary manner. 

In the year 1780 the war was chiefly transferred 
to the southern states. Charleston surrendered to 
General Clinton in the early part of the summer. 
General Gates was defeated with great slaughter 
by Earl Cornwallis at Camden; and Colonel Tarl- 
lon did much mischief by liis activity and enter- 
prize. At King's Mountain, however, the British 
were defeated in a very brilliant action, losing about 
1000 men. Congress at this time were much em- 
barrassed by the depreciation of their paper curren- 
cy, and passed some acts to renovate the depart- 
ments of war, treasury, &c. In this year Count 
Rochambeau arrived at Rhode-Island in a French 
squadron, with a fine body of French troops, who 
were well received. General Arnold deserted from 
his country, and Major Andre, the principal agent 
in his defection, was executed as a spy. Arnold 
was made a Brigadier-General in the King's service 
and in the end died wretched and despised. Mr. 
Laurens, at one time President of Congress, was 
taken on a mission to Holland, some of bis papers 
secured, and himself committed close prisoner to 
the Tower in London, after an examination before 
the privy council, on a charge of high treason. Wai- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 275 

ok place this year between Great Britain and 

Tolland. 
In the beginning of 1781 the British formed some 
hopes from the revolt of about 1500 American 
troops, forming the Pennsylvania line, who refused 
to serve any longer unless tliey were paid. The 
British sent to offer them their back pay if they 
would lay down their arms and return ta their 
homes and allegiance to the King: but the troops 
rejected the offer with disdain. The affair was af- 
terward? satisfactorily adjusted through the means 
of Joseph Reed, esq. president of Pennsylvania. 
General Morgan this year defeated Colonel Tarle- 
ton at the Cowpens, on the 17th of January, with 
great loss, taking his cannon, colors, and killing, 
wounding and making prisoners of many of his men. 
Lord Corn wal lis, notwithstanding, penetrated into 
North Carolina ; and General Green was advancing 
to meet him. In the mean time the traitor Arnold 
landed in Virginia and committed depredations at 
Richmond^ Westham, and other places. A severe 
battle was fought in March at Guilford Court-House, 
between Lord Cornwallis atid General Green, in 
which, although the British claimed the victory, the 
Americans had the real advantage. On the 25th o{ 
April General Green had a severe conflict with 
lord Rawdon at Camden, and would have beat him 
but for the misconduct of some of his officers. 
Colonel Washington behaved very well on this oc- 
casion. Indeed, in this campaign, even when the 
Americans were worsted, they displayed great hero- 
ism. Such was the case at the Eutaw Springs, 
where Green was present. The marquis de la 
Fayette very much distinguished himself in the 
American cause. In the latter end of the year 



276 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Arnold was sent on an expejiition against New- 
London, in Connecticut, where lie destroyed the 
shipping, naval stores, and large quantities of 
European and West-india goods. The town itself 
was burnt. The traitor met with great resistance, 
and had to carry every tiling at the point of the 
bayonet. Notwithstanding his successes, lord Corn- 
wallis found himself in a critical situation, and 8ir 
Henry Clinton, the British commander in chief, 
was prevented from sending reinforcements to him 
from an appreliension that General Washington 
meditated an attack upon New- York. Lord Corn- 
wallis had fortified himself at Yorktown and -Jlou- 
cester; on the 28th of August Sir Samuel Hood 
arrived off New-York with a squadron, "where he 
joined admiral Graves, and on the oth of September 
they arrived in the Chesapeake with 19 ships of die 
line, wh<^re they found the French admiral Count de 
Grasse with 24 ships of war : they came to action, 
and the result was tliat the British abandonerl the 
Chesapeake to the French squadron. Thus cut off 
from supplies, lord Cornwallis was surrounded by 
tiie French and American foi-ces under the com- 
mand of General Wasliington, and on the 19th of 
October he surrendered himself and his army pri- 
soners of war ; the prisoners amounted to more than 
6000. 

On the 5t]i of May 1782 Sir Guy Carleton arriv- 
ed at New-York, and superceded Sir Henry C'inton 
in command. The capture of Cornwallis, excepting 
some desultory skirmishes, terminated the war ; and 
Sir Guy made proffers of peace on the part of his 
government. General Wasliington and the Con- 
gress acted with great circumspection in the busi- 
ness, being apprehensive of some foul play. Nego- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 977 

ciations, however, being continueJ, the provisional 
articles of peace were signed at Paris on the 30th 
of November, in which Great Britain acknowledged 
the freedom, sovereignty, and independence of the 
States. They were acknowledged in the same cha- 
racter by France on the 31st January, 1778; by 
Holland on the 19th of April, 1783; by Sweden on 
the 5th of February, 1783 ; by Denmark on the 25tb 
of February, by Spain in March, by Russia in July 
of the same year ; and by Prussia in 1785. In men 
the United States are supposed to have lost by the 
war about 70,000. In the Jersey prison-ship alone 
11,000 souls are believed to have perished. On the 
24th of March, 1784, the peace with America was 
ratified. 

General Washington, having successfully con- 
ducted his country to independence, aided by, the 
great men of the time, repaired to Annapolis, and 
on the 9.od of December, 1 783, in the Senate-room 
of the State-House, resigned his commission into 
the hands of the President of Congress. This com- 
mission is preserved in the Department of State at 
Washington. His accounts were all fairly render- 
ed in at the public treasury, and he enjoys the repu- 
tation of economy and probity in his disburse- 
ments, as well as of purity of ambition. 

It may be truly asserted that no people in the 
world ever endured more privations, suffered more 
hardships, or exhibited more perseverance, in any 
cause, than the Americans did in this contest for 
freedom. The following table shews at one view 
the number of troops employed each year during 
the war, nominal and effective, together with the 
annual payments for supporting tnem, in specie 
value : 



§78 HISTORICAL LETTEUS. 

Vears, J\*omiuaL Effective. Fay. 

1775 27,443 15,000 > ^^^ . ... 

1776 46,891 25,000 S ^^^'^^^'^^^ 

1777 34,830 £6,000 24,986,646 

1778 32,899 19,000 24,289,438 

1779 27,699 18,000 10,794,620 

1780 21,015 19,000 3,000,000 

1781 13,292 10,000 l,94ij!,465 

1782 14,256 11,000 3,632,745 

1783 13,476 12,000 3,226,583 
X784 548,525 



Total 92,485,688 

Add to this the debt incurred of about 42,708,009 



And we have an aggregate specie sum 

of - - -..-.- 8135,193,697 
To the preceding the militia of each State maybe 
added. On an average the}' amounted to about half 
as many as the regulars : their pay was included in 
the list of expenses which were reduced in funding 
the public debt. In addition to this expense large 
bounties were given by the States in lands and mo- 
ney, and depreciation was made good. The an- 
nexed statement exhibits the amount paid by the 
States respectively. 

New-Hampshire, - - - S 4,278,015 

Massachusetts, - - - - 17,964,613 
Rhode-Island, .... 3,782,074 

Connecticut, - - . - 9,285,737 

New-York, 7,179,982 

New-Jersey, 5,342,770 

£eansylvauia, - , . - 14,137,076 

Carried forward, S 61,970,267 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 



279 



Brought forward, S 61,970,267 

Delaware, 839,319 

Maryland, 7,568,145 

YnTUiia, 19,085,981 

North-Carolina, - - - - 10,427,586 

South-Carolina, - . - . 11,52S,S99 

Georgia, 2,993,800 

Total. DoUars, 114,408,397 
From these particulars, a tolerably accurate idea 
may be formed of the expenses of the war for inde- 
pendence. 

After the war, the articles of confederation and 
pel petual union were found to be inadequate to all 
the objects of a permanent government; and the 
question having been agitated among the most en- 
lightened men of the nation, (in consequence of a 
proposition first made by James Madison in 1785) a 
convention of delegates chosen by each state met 
at Philadelph.ia in the summer of 1787; where a 
new constitution of government was suggested, and 
was finallv adopted. This constitution, with subse- 
quent amendments, is the one under which we have 
now the happiness to live. It secures to the people 
every thing that is desirable in human society. Li- 
berty of conscience, freedom of speech and of the 
press, and the trial by jury, are guarantied by it. 
All legislative pov/er is vested in Congress, which 
consists of a Senate and Plouse of Representatives : 
The Senate is composed of two members from each 
state, each of whom is entitled to hold his seat for 
six vears ; but by a classification at the first institu- 
tion^ of this body, one third of the members go out 
every two years, so that it is renewed every six 
years, although as a body it is never defunct. Each 
'Senator is entitled to one vote, must be thirty years 
old, have beea nine years a citizen of the United 



28i> KISTORICAL LETTERS. 

States, and must be an inltabitant of the state for 
which he is chosen when elected. The Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States is President of the Senate, 
but has no vote except on an equal division- The 
Senate may choose a Vice-President pro tempore 
in case of the absence or death of the Vice-Presi- 
dent, or of his serving as President of the United 
States; as also is Secretary and other necessary 
officers. The Senate have tlie sole power of trying 
impeachments, and likewise a power of approving 
or rejecting treaties and nominations to certain offi- 
ces made by the President. The House ot Repre- 
sentatives consists of members chosen every two 
years, aoreeably to a ratio of numbers calculated 
upon a census of population taken at the end of eve- 
ry ten years. No person can be a Representative 
unless he is twenty-five years of age, been seven 
years a citizen of the United States, and is an inha- 
bitant of the State for wliich he is elected at the 
time of election. Tlie number of Representatives 
cannot exceed one for every tliirty thousand. Each 
member of the House has a vote. This body cliooses 
its Speaker, Clerk, and subordinate ofiicers, has the 
exclusive power of originating money bills, and se- 
veral other peculiar powers. Congress is authorized 
to lay and collect taxes, raise and support armies 
and a navy, declare war, regulate commerce, coin 
money, &c. Every bill, before it becomes a law, 
must be presented to the President of the United 
States for signature : if he approves, he signs it ; if 
he disapproves of it, he sends it back with his ob- 
jections : and unless it is repassed by two-thirds of 
both houses of Cong.ress it does not become a law : 
but the President must return it within ten days, 
(Sundays excepted,) otherwise it becomes a law. 
The Senators and Representatives have a pecuniary 
per diem allowance for their services. The Presi- 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 381 

Went of the United States is the chief executive offi ^ 
cer of the crovernment, and he is elected, as well as 
the Vice-Fresideijt, for four years, by electors cho- 
sen by the people or legislatures of the states. The 
number of these electors is, for each state, equal to 
the mnnber of Representatives aad Senators of the 
state in Congress. The sulgoined table exhibits the 
number to which each state has been entitled for the 
|)ast ten years, the ratio of representation being 
35,000 : 

JVo. of Representatives, JVe. of Electors. 
New-York, - 27 - - 29 

Virginia, - 23 - - 25 

Pennsylvania, - 23 • - 25 

Massachusetts, - IJO - - 23 

North-Carolina, - IS - - 15 

Kentucky, - 10 - - 12 

Maryland - 9 - - 11 

South- Carolina, - 9 - - 11 

Connecticut, - 7 • - 9 

New Hampshire, - 6 - - - 8 

Vermont, - 6 .. - 8 

New- Jersey, - 6 - - 8 

Tennessee, .6 - -8 

Georgia, - 6 - - 8 

Ohio, - 6 - - 8 

Rhode-Island, - 2 - - 4 

Delaware, - 2 - - 4 

Louisiana, - 1 - - 3 

Indiana, .1 . . 5 

Illinois, - 1 . - 3 

Mississippi, .1 - . 3 

Alabama, • ] . - S 



186 230 

Additional for Maine, - - . - 2 

t2 f»32 



282 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

The electors are obliged to designate the person 
voted for as President or Vice-President, and the 
person having a majority of the whole number of 
votes for either station is duly entitled to the ofSce. 
The votes are transmitted to the President of the 
Senate, who open*them in the presence of the mem- 
bers of both houses of Congress, and they are 
counted. If tliere is no choice by the electors, the 
House of Representatives, voting by states, are to, 
choose the President from the three candidates 
having the highest number of votes. If there be no 
choice of Vice-President by the electors, then the 
Senate choose him from the two candidates having 
the highest number on the lists. In case of the 
death, resignation, or inability, of the President to 
discharge the functions of his post, the Vice-Presi- 
dent is to act as President; and m case of the death, 
&r. of both these officers. Congress may by law de- 
clare who shall discharge the duties of the station. 
The Vice President has an annual salary of 5000 
dollars. The President is commander in chief of 
the army and navy of the United States, and of the 
militia of the several states, when called into the 
service of the United States. His annual salary is 
25,000 dollars; and he is impeachable, and may be 
removed for misconduct. Wnenever he is tried the 
chief justice must preside. George Washington 
was the first President of the United States, and was 
inaugurated the ^SOth of April, 1789 ; he vv^as re- 
elected on the 4th of March 1793: On the 4th of 
March 1797 he relinquished the office, and died, 
universally admired and regretted, on the 14th of 
December 1799. In March 1797 John Adams was 
chosen President: In 1801 Thomas Jefferson was 
elected to the same office, and was re-chosen in 
1805 : He voluntaiily retired in 1809, when James 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. S83 

Madison succeeded him Mr. Madison retired in 
1817, and was succeeded by James Monroe, who is 
the actual President There are four principal de- 
partments under the President, to W5t : the Depart- 
ment of State, of the Treasury, of War, and of the 
Navy, over each of which there is a Secretary ; who, 
toji;ether with the Attorney General of the United 
States, form a council of consultation for the Presi- 
dent, and, by this means, he is enabled to bring to 
his aid the best abilities of the nation. The Secre- 
tary of State is the organ of diplomatic intercourse 
with foreign nations, and of correspondence, in rela- 
tion to his Department, with the Governors of 
States, Territories, &c. The Secretary of the Trea- 
sury superintends the collection of the revenue, 
which arises from duties on tonnage, on imported 
goods, postage of letters, and the sales of public 
lands. In ordinary years the yearly revenue amounts 
to about 14,000,000 of dollars : All disbursements 
of public money are made and adjusted at the Trea- 
sury Department. The Secretary of War superin- 
tends the affairs of tliearmy, which, in time of peace, 
consists of a small number of regular troops: These, 
however, are augmented in time of war ; But the 
chief reliance for defence is on the militia, which, 
according to the census of 1810, may be reckoned 
at 1,119,944. Ordinarily the military establisment 
costs the United States nearly 4,000,000 of dollars 
per annum. The Secretary of the Navy has the 
care of our infantine marine, which, includinu ships 
of the line, frigates, Sec amounts to about 50 
vessels of war, rating from 1 to 106 guns, and car- 
rying, in the aggregate, about 1500 guns ; besides 
which there are several bomb-kef ches and gun boats. 
The common an? ual expense of the Navy Depart- 
ment has been about 3,000,000 of dollars. Tlic 



284 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Attorney-General is the principal law-officer of the 
government. The United States established a mint 
m 1792. The gold coins are eagles, half eagles, and 
quarter eagles; the silver coins are dollars, half 
dollars, quarter dollars, dimes, and half dimes ; the 
copper coins, are cents and half cents. Dollars, 
cents and mills, are the denominations generally 
used in computation ; but the latter are merely no- 
minal. The post office is under the direction of a 
postmaster general and two assistants. All these 
departments and institutions are under the general 
observance of the President. 

The Judicial power of the government is vested 
in certain courts, of which there arc three kinds : A 
supreme court, circuit courts, and district courts. 
The constitution establishes the first, and the two 
last |iavo been instituted by Congress. The Su- 
preme court consists of a chief justice and six asso- 
ciate judges, and the Attorney -General of the Uni- 
ted States is the public prosecutor before it. The 
circuit court consists of a Judge of the Supreme 
court and the district judge of tlic State ; and for 
this purpose the United States are divided into cir- 
cuits and districts. The circuit courts sit twice a 
jear in each district composing the circuit, and the 
judge must reside in one of them. The district 
court is held by the judge of the district, whose au- 
thority is confined to it. A district attorney is the 
public prosecutor before the circuit and district 
courts ; and there is a marshal appointed for each 
district, who exercises the powers of a Sherifl'. 

Each state has a government independently of 
this general government, sovereign in every parti- 
cular except as to those national interests of which 
the federal constitution takes coo:nizance. The go- 
vernment of the several States, however varying ia 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 285 

ioriii, are essentially republican, and calculated to 
proniote the happiness of the pe«>| le. 

The United States, now twenty-three in number, 
have Territories, which, as tliey increase in popula- 
tiois are allowed a more liberal frame of o-overnment 
until they become States, to winch privilege they 
are admitted when they contain 60,000 inhabitants. 
The President, with the approbation of the Senate, 
appoints the Governors, Secretaries, and other offi- 
cers of the Territories, and they are paid out of the 
national treasury. The District of Columbia is un- 
der the exclusive jurisdiction of the general govern- 
ment; and, being the seat of its deliberations, it is 
probable it will remain so. Washington City is the 
capital of the vi'hole United States. 

The population of the United States and theip 
Territories, according to the census of 1810, 
amounts to 7,239,903 souls, of which the following 
is an accurate table : 

STATES. 
Maine and Massachusetts, - - 700,745 

New-Hampshire, - - - . 214,460 

Vermont, 217,895 

Rhode>IsIand, - - - - - 76,931. 

Connecticut, 261,942 

New-York, 959,049 

New-Jersey, 245,562 

Pennsylvania, 810,091 

Delaware, 72,674 

Maryland, 380,546 

Virginia, 974,622 

Kentucky, 406,511 

North-Carolina, - . - . 555,500 

Tennessee, ----- 961,727 
South-Carolina, _ - - - 415,115 

Georgia, 252,435 



286 HISTORICAL LETTER S. 



Ohio, 


230,760 


TERRITORIES— ill 1810. 




Orleans, - - - - - - 


76,556 


Mississippi, - « - - _ 


40,552 


Indiana, 


s-i.'^ao 


Louisiana, - - - - - 


20,845 


Illinois, - - - - - 


12,282 


Michigan, . - - 


4,762 


District of Colvmbia, - - - 


24,023 



Total 7,239,903 

The population of the United States and Territo- 
ries increased, from 1800 to 1810, nearly 2,000,000. 
And manufactures, of almost every description, 
have made considerable progress. 

Since the revolutionary conflict, the United States 
have been engaged in several Indian wars, in a war 
with France, one >vith Tripoli, and a war declared 
against Great Britain in 1812, wl.ich terminated in 
1815, with great increase of military and naval 
renown to the Americans In every one of these 
national contests they have had the advantage. 

The Spanish Possessions of America, before the 
prevailing revolution, which has so much shattered 
that monarchy, consisted, in the J\hrth, of New 
Mexico, part of the Floridas, of California, and Old 
Mexico. Tlie origin of the power of Spain in that 
section of the country is singular. Velasquez, a 
governor of Cuba, desirous of rendering his adminis- 
tration remarkable, undertook a small expedition of 
discovery, which he confided to Fernando Cortes. 
This commander set out in 1519, at the head of 
about 600 men, a few horse, and some pieces of 
artillery. He coasted along the peninsula of 
Yucatan, landed at Tabasco, and founded the colo- 
ny of Vera-Cruz. Here he threw off the authority 



HISTORICAL LETTERS. 287 

of Velasquez, and having gained intelligence of the 
riches and splendor of Mexico, marciied thither, 
subduing or conciliating the nations of Indians in 
his way. Arriving at Mexico he was received as a 
friend ; but in the true spirit of an invader he seized 
the emperor Montezuma in his palace, kept him 
close prisoner, and after three years of conflicts, in 
which he had to combat with a Spanish -force sent 
by Velasquez to arrest him, he succeeded in subju- 
gating this fine country. Cortes, when he set out 
from Vera Cruz upon this enterprize, burnt his fleet. 
Robertson has collected, in a very interesting nar- 
rative, the principal events of this extraordinary 
conquest. In South America the Spaniards own 
Terra-Firma, Peru, Chilly and Paraguay. Of these 
provinces the history of Peru is the most engaging. 

It was the domain of a race of magnificent princes 
entitled Incas. The people were wealthy, industri- 
ous, and considerably advanced in the arts of civi- 
lization : In this respect they are thought to have 
exceeded the Mexicans, who were tolerably polish- 
ed. These people had the misfortune, in the year 
1531, to be the object of an expedition undertaken 
by Francis Pizarro, Diego Almagro, and a priest. 
These conquerors had a very small military force ; 
bat the Peruvians were divided by a contest between 
two brothers for the throne. The Spaniards inter- 
fered and finally reduced the country under their 
own yoke, after committing the greatest cruelties, 
quarrelling among themselves, and plundering the 
natives. The events of this achievement are like- 
wise detailed by Robertson. 

The direction of the provinces of Spanish Ameri- 
ca has been heretofore committed to the council of 
the Indies. And the king's representative in eacii 
province was either a vice-roy or a captain general. 



288 HISTORICAL LETIERS^ 

As this part of the world is at present in a state of 
revolution, in which the old aiitliority trembles and 
new governments are not yet firailj established, it 
would be improper to pursue their history further at 
this time. 

The Baron Humboldt, who has furnislied the latest 
and most authentic description of some of the prin- 
cipal Spanish possessions in America, reckons the 
population of Mexico alone, at about 6,500,000. 
The policy of the Spaniards has always been to 
exclude foreigners and free trade from their colo- 
nies. 

The Portuguese Possessions in South-America 
consist of Brazil and Guiana. The former was 
discovered in the year 1500, by Pedro Alvarez 
Cabral, on a voyage to the East-Jndies. It is a 
very rich province, and gives the title of prince of 
Brazil to the heir apparent to the Portuguese crown. 
This country has become interesting of late frotn 
the emigration of the royal family thither from Lis- 
bon. We have no accurate knowledge of tlie popu* 
lation, but there are supposed to be nearly as many 
blacks as whites. Brazil abounds in line bays and 
harbors, furnishes many articles for commerce, such 
as excellent sugar, drugs, and Brazil wood ; and 
produces gold and diamonds. 

In all the Spanisli and Portuguese possessions in 
America, the Roman Catholic Religion is the esta- 
blished worship. 

In the interior of South America a large portion 
of the country remains almost unexploied. It is 
called Amazonia. This is also the case with the •^* 
extremity of that part of the continent called Pata- 
gonia, or the Magellanic region, of which, as well as 
of the body of land between the Straits ofLe Mairea. 



HSTORICAL LETTERS. 289 

and tliose of Magellan, called Terra del Fuego, we, 
in truth, have very little certain knowledge. 

I do not think it necessary, in this brief general 
historical view, to enter into a description of those 
islands which lie in the sea between East Florida 
and the river Oronoco. Cuba, the chief of them, is 
at present in the hands of the Spaniards, daily liable 
to revolution, and altogether at the mercy of the 
English ; who, by means of their formidable navy, 
hold the principal sw^ay in these islands. St Do- 
mingo or Hayti, the next in size and importance, is 
at this time under the dominion of the Blacks, who, 
as rulers, are represented even as more severe task- 
masters to their x\frican biethren than the whites. 
The different European nations that have planted 
colonies, have introduced their own peculiar institu- 
tions; so that a traveller who should pass from one 
island to another, and make the whole circuit, would 
meet with all the variety of laws, customs and man- 
ners, that are to be found in F^urope, together with 
many of native srowth. 

Before I conclude, it may not be amiss to men- 
f tion that by the purchase of Louisiana in the year 
1803, the United States obtained the customary title 
to a vast body of land and considerable population 
on the western banks of the Mississippi. The 
country thus acquired was, in part, at first divided 
into two Territories, that is to say, the Territory of 
Orleans and the Territory of Louisiana, which were 
wverned agreeably to the Ordinances of Congress. 
In 1812, the population of Orleans being more than 
60,000 souls, that Territory was erected into a State. 
There exists some dispute concerning the bounda- 
ries of Louisiana as it was originally purchased 
from the French, and the United States have taken 
measures to secure their rights in that particular. 



290 HISTORICAL LETTERS. 

Since tlie country was bought, an exploring party,* 
conducted by Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, travelled 
across the continent to the shores of the Pacific 
Ocean. The views which that enterprize opened 
for posterity are truly interesting. 

AVith respect to the Indians who reside in and 
adjacent to the United States, it has been the policy 
of the American «overnment to inculcate amonjr 
them sentiments of concoid, and to propagate the 
arts of civilization. The eftbrt has, in some degree, 
succeeded ; but, in many cases, the friendly endea- 
vors of the United States have been attended with 
no beneficial eftects whatever. C. 



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